The Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center is urging residents to keep chicken runs covered. UPI reported that the center offered the advice after a Roanoke hawk’s unusually high weight was linked to access to neighboring chickens.
The bird was an adult female red-shouldered hawk, identified as RSHA 26-2599. A resident found her in a driveway about a mile from the center, according to UPI. The resident later learned that a neighbor’s free-roaming chickens had been disappearing over the previous few weeks, UPI reported.
The center’s veterinarians found no signs of injury and attributed the hawk’s inability to fly to excess weight. UPI reported that they found a heavy layer of fat over her keel and recorded her weight as 2 pounds, nearly a pound above normal for a female of her species. KTLA gave a figure of more than 910 grams.
The center has placed the hawk on a weight-loss diet, UPI reported. Its advice to cover chicken runs is intended to prevent residents from indirectly feeding wildlife, the outlet said.
