A red-shouldered hawk got itself stuck at least 120 feet in the air inside a Topgolf driving-range net in Overland Park, Kansas, and it took animal-control officers an hours-long operation — plus a borrowed truck tall enough to reach the bird — before they could finally cut it loose. A nonprofit legal group estimates that thousands of birds have been affected by the company's netting across the country, and the estimate is at the center of a new legal fight against the golf entertainment giant.
A Nationwide Pattern Of Trapped Birds
According to the New York Post, animal rights activists have threatened legal action against Topgolf, alleging that thousands of birds across the country have been harmed in the company's netting over the last eight years. Nora Marino, president of the nonprofit Legal Action Network for Animals, sent Topgolf a letter demanding it immediately acquire equipment capable of freeing trapped birds, per the same report. Marino also demanded that any birds caught in the nets be freed within a reasonable amount of time and handled only by qualified or licensed wildlife rescuers or rehabilitators.
Marino argues that birds trapped in Topgolf netting and caused to suffer, be injured, or die constitute animal cruelty under New York law, the outlet reports. She has also alleged that Topgolf may choose to rip birds from the nets because replacing an entire net is more expensive than freeing a bird safely — and she has said, per the same account, that an animal does not have to die for the conduct to count as cruelty. The company has 103 locations around the country, including one in New York and three in New Jersey, and the article notes that Topgolf did not respond to a request for comment.
Kansas Rescue Required A Truck-Mounted Ladder
The Overland Park case shows just how difficult these rescues can get. Emergency crews initially could not reach the trapped hawk with the ladders on hand, and it was Top Golf that ultimately found a truck tall enough to get close to the bird, according to KOMU. Animal-control officers from Overland Park and Prairie Village eventually freed the hawk, which was then taken to Operation Wildlife for care in hopes it could recover and be released.
A similar scene played out at a Topgolf in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where fire crews rescued a red-tailed hawk that had become tangled in the netting roughly 40 feet above the ground, Count on 2 reported. The nets are designed to contain golf balls hit within the driving range. Because hawks are not accustomed to flying at night, crews placed the rescued bird in a box until morning before handing it off to avian experts, the outlet noted.
Long Island Facility Saw Repeated Bird Entrapments
Frank Floridia told the Post he received calls about hawks tangled in the net at the Topgolf location in Holtsville, Long Island, twice in the span of a month. In one instance, Topgolf called police and the fire department after a bird became trapped, but responders could not reach it even with 100-foot ladders; the bird ultimately freed itself, and Floridia said he was unsure whether it survived. When a second bird became trapped at the same Holtsville facility, Topgolf employees shut the location down more quickly, according to the outlet.
Floridia said a hawk or osprey needs to be removed by a wildlife rehabilitator who actually knows how to work with the animal, per the Post's reporting. That concern echoes what happened in Roseland, New Jersey, where volunteer firefighters responded to a report of a hawk entangled in protective netting at the Essex Golf Center at about 5:38 p.m. on July 20, according to New Jersey Hills. That hawk was safely freed and transported to The Raptor Trust for examination and treatment.
Vultures, An Eagle, And A Company Without A Unified Protocol
Barbara Walker, president of Tampa Bay Raptor Rescue, told the Post she received a report in February about birds trapped at the Topgolf in St. Petersburg, Florida, which sits near a nature preserve — eight vultures were caught in the nets there. Walker said she later searched Facebook for “Topgolf bird” and found multiple stories and video evidence of birds trapped at Topgolf locations, including one report of a bald eagle struggling in the netting. She also said fire departments have resorted to shooting trapped birds down with hoses.
Walker estimated, per the Post, that 103 nets averaging roughly five bird catches per year over eight years would work out to around 4,120 birds affected, and she warned that number could grow exponentially in coming years. She said Topgolf has site-specific bird-removal procedures but lacks any company-wide protocol, and that the people handling these rescues are often untrained and lack knowledge of the species involved. A comparable case outside the Topgolf chain came in 2018, when a Canada goose died after getting caught in driving-range netting at McInnis Park Golf Center in San Rafael, California — rescuers determined the bird's injuries were too extensive for treatment and it was euthanized, according to the Marin Independent Journal.
