On March 24, 2011, I was traveling from Vernon to Enderby to visit a friend. As I passed the Log Barn, I noticed vehicles going around something on the highway ahead of me. As I got closer, I saw a red tailed hawk laying on the road.
I thought the least I could do is to put him off the highway into the ditch. I stopped and got out and was surprised to see him still breathing. I grabbed a canvas bag from my car and laid the hawk in it. I put him on the front seat of my car and turned the heat on high.
Almost to Enderby, he popped his head out of the bag and was staring at me. He was beautiful. I continued in to Enderby and when I arrived there was nobody available to help.
Not knowing what to do, I did what I had done in the past elsewhere. I went to the First Nations people. I went to the Splats’in Band and they treated me with great respect and helped immediately.
Stuart Lee and others helped to get help for the hawk. Stuart drove me to the Shuswap Veterinary Clinic in Salmon Arm where the hawk was brought in right away and treated.
So I would like to say a special thanks to Stuart Lee and everyone else at the Splats’in Band for caring and also to Dr. K. Dukeshire of the Shuswap Veterinary Clinic and others who cared.
I was informed that the hawk was released March 26, 2011. Our avian and wildlife friends of this great Mother Earth have just as much right as mankind does. They owe us nothing and we should be giving more.
Darryl Petry, Vernon
