local vet treats hawk caught in coyote trap

Brooke Stevenson

Dr. Lisa Garren holds an injured red tailed hawk that was brought into her clinic earlier that day.

published: February 02 2010 04:31 PM updated:: February 03 2010 12:00 AM

By Brooke Stevenson
brooke@seymourherald.com
   Smoky Mountain Animal Clinic in Seymour treats an entire spectrum of animals, from three-week-old puppies, to wild hawks injured by traps.
   On Tuesday morning residents brought an injured red tailed hawk into the clinic. It had been caught in a coyote trap off of Goose Gap Road.
   Veterinarian Lisa Garren did not hesitate to take the hawk, and plans to take it home to her barn to nurse him back to health.
   “We can’t keep him here at the clinic because of all the other animals,” Garren said. “He is really lucky his leg didn’t break in the trap.”
   The hawk had landed in the trap, and suffered a laceration on to his left foot. Garren expects she will be able to free the bird in about a week.
   “I’m going to feed him every day and watch him very carefully,” she said. “If I let him go too early I won’t be able to catch him and he won’t make it in the wild.”
   Garren was also treating a three-week-old bloodhound puppy in the office on Tuesday.
   “He is the runt of the litter and only weighs about two pounds,” she said while holding the puppy wrapped snuggly in a blanket. “He’s struggling a little bit, but we’ll try to get him through it.”
   The clinic, which has an in-house lab, mainly treats cats and dogs, but Garren also treats horses and Veterinarian Susan Sterling treats llamas, goats, pigs and ferrets on occasion.
   Staff at the clinic perform x-rays, ultrasounds, routine and emergency surgeries, and even acupuncture.
   “Acupuncture is really neat,” said Garren. “It is actually pretty common in horses; I have performed it on horses several times.”
   According to Garren, acupuncture can be used to treat anything from asthma to joint pain to gastrointestinal problems.
   “It actually works really well, I have had good results with it,” she said.
   Sterling is currently taking a course in acupuncture so she can perform it on animals in the clinic.
   To find out more about Smoky Mountain Animal Clinic call (865) 577-4861.

User Comments

#1 honest1 commented, on February 3, 2010 at 9:35 a.m.:

This is one of the many reasons why we should not be trapping coyotes: the possible loss of other wildlife and the injury of pets.
--Coyotes are the smartest animals in the woods and the most persecuted. Like this hawk, they too help control the rodents & small mammals that eat songbird eggs. Additionally, coyotes prey on weak, sick deer, creating a stronger herd for hunters. Please check projectcoyote.org, founded by wildlife experts for great info.
--Coyotes mate for life and both parents care for their young. They only breed once a year. America's "song dogs" are territorial, so a small family of coyotes will protect an area from competitors. But if you kill them, many transient coyotes will stream in and have MORE puppies.
--Please, stop trapping them! Hunters, stop randomly shooting coyotes, for the fun of it!
--Farmers, adopt highly successful NONlethal methods of protecting livestock. Petowners, bring pet food inside & don't let small pets wander.
--Let's respect our wildlife!!!