STAMFORD, Conn. -- Beth Erickson, a Stamford police lieutenant, doesn't get many calls for downed hawks. Last month, she got two in the same day. A week later, she stopped Merritt Parkway traffic to corral a group of motherless ducklings trying to cross four lanes of highway.
The patrol supervisor-turned-wildlife-protector brought the animals to Wildlife in Crisis, a non-profit in Weston that rehabilitates injured and orphaned native animals and releases them into the wild. The string of animal encounters has left the North Stamford patrol supervisor a staunch supporter of organizations such as Wildlife in Crisis.
"Often times we have to put deer down," Erickson said. "We have unfortunate things we have to see. But occasionally we have time where we get to rescue animals."
Peter Reid, the assistant director of Wildlife in Crisis, said law enforcement agencies are often a regular source of distressed animals for the center. State Police troopers often bring animals to them. Last month, Erickson brought them a stream of projects.
"It's another side to their job, a compassion toward orphaned and injured animals," Reid said.
Erickson found her first red-tailed hawk July 7 when she was driving to work for a morning shift. Stuck in traffic on the Merritt Parkway, a hawk swooped into view and appeared to clip a white van in front of her.
The hawk spun and crash-landed on the side of the highway. Erickson pulled over and found the hawk knocked out, its long and powerful talons still clenching grass and sticks. She wrapped the hawk in a towel and placed it in her trunk.
Erickson radioed the city's dispatch center to try and find an organization that would take the injured hawk. Moments later the dispatcher told Erickson another Stamford police found a red-tailed hawk on a city sidewalk near Julia A. Stark Elementary School on Glenbrook Road.
When she got there the hawk stood near the sidewalk and onlookers snapped photos of it. She pulled out another sheet from her car and wrapped up the hawk, placing it her back seat. The hawk remained calm and still.
"I don't advocate for people to pick up hawks," Erickson said on Friday. "I would imagine they could so dome serious harm to you. They have big talons and big beaks. I don't suggest approaching one."
Reid, at Wildlife in Crisis, directed her to bring the two hawks to the center in Weston.
"She was pretty intrepid in capturing these two hawks," Reid said. "She had limited tools at her disposal."
The next week, on July 13, Erickson sprung to action again. Driving to work again on the Merritt, Erickson spotted a group of ducklings huddled near the median. She turned on the lights in her police cruiser and stopped traffic, shooing the ducks to the side of the ride and eliciting beeps of approval from the waiting motorists.
The ducklings scurried into a poison-ivy covered embankment. It took 45 minutes for Erickson to collect them into the same blanket she used to cover one of the hawks. She first waited to see whether the ducklings' mother was nearby.
Erickson brought the ducklings to Wildlife in Crisis. Reid said the ducks grew rapidly since then. They are now about two weeks away from being released into the wild. He said the ducks' mothers likely met with misfortune before Erickson found them trying to cross the parkway.
As for the hawks, the one found on the highway injured a tendon when it struck a car, Reid said. Hawks hunt along tree lines, which brings them to highways and roadways. The hawk is in a flight cage at the center and will be released this fall.
The second hawk was a juvenile and suffered trauma before Erickson found it, Reid said. The hawk was found with festering wounds from a fight with a predator. It is on medication and expected to recover. Reid said the hawk was near death before Erickson took him to Wildlife in Crisis.
"He was on his way out," Reid said.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
