A syringe barrel became part of the repair for a young red-tailed hawk’s badly injured wing. Dr. Chandler Navara told MercerMe that another veterinarian suggested adapting the tool. She had not used the approach before but decided to try it for the hawk. The report notes that bird bones are hollow. Navara said wildlife veterinarians often ask one another for input on difficult cases.
Navara works at Hopewell Veterinary Group and volunteers with the Mercer County Wildlife Center, usually every other week on a day away from her practice. She has given time to the center since early 2023. MercerMe notes that most of her clinic work is with companion animals and other small patients. Center director Jane Rakos-Yates told MercerMe that an animal’s species helps shape its care plan, from treatment and medicine to housing. The Mercer County Park Commission operates the center and provides staff, facilities and resources; donations and a nonprofit friends group support additional needs. Navara said the center lacks some specialized equipment found in larger veterinary hospitals. Its staff sometimes adjust their methods or materials for wildlife cases, she said. After the release, Park Commission executive director Joseph Pizza praised the center’s staff and volunteers. County Executive Dan Benson also praised the collaboration and environmental stewardship in a statement.
Nearly nine weeks passed between the airport injury and the Oct. 30 release behind Strawberry Hill Mansion at Baldpate Mountain. A small crowd waited as Navara opened the transport crate. The young bird stayed inside briefly before flying to a nearby tree. It rested there, then moved farther into the trees and later perched higher among fall leaves as onlookers dispersed.
Navara said the short first flight was not surprising because the hawk’s muscles needed time to regain full strength. She expected a cycle of rest and stretching as it rebuilt that strength. Rakos-Yates described the release as a welcome outcome, while noting that not every injured animal can be returned to the wild. Flight conditioning was one part of the hawk’s rehabilitation before release.
The route to the mountain began on Aug. 29 at Trenton-Mercer Airport. MercerMe reports that an aircraft had struck the hawk. The control tower reported a bird it believed was dead after an aircraft took off. Jeff Ritter, an airport operations and safety employee, found the hawk alive on the runway and moved it to a grassy area away from airport operations. He searched for a wildlife-care provider, and about two and a half hours passed before he connected with the county center.
Two center staff members returned with Ritter to retrieve the bird. By then it had moved about 30 to 40 feet from the place where Ritter left it. Airport operations paused briefly during the retrieval. A veterinary examination found the humerus, the long bone in the upper wing, broken into three pieces. Ritter recalled that center staff were initially unsure whether the injury could be repaired.
Navara performed the first operation at her practice, using pins to hold the bone. When part of the repair shifted, she operated again at the wildlife center two days later. After the procedures, the hawk was placed in outdoor flight-conditioning areas, including a circular cage where it could exercise and rebuild strength before release.
The hawk was born earlier in the year and had not developed adult tail coloring. Rakos-Yates said red-tailed hawks usually acquire that coloring at about two years old. Staff believed the bird was male based on its size. MercerMe notes that determining a young hawk’s sex can be difficult. Ritter said seeing the release mattered to him after he had found the hawk injured at the airport. The bird was not fitted with a band or tracking device. MercerMe’s account ends with the release-day scene, so the hawk’s later location and condition are unknown. What the report does document is the path that led there: an airport worker’s response, a volunteer veterinarian’s repair, center staff and outdoor flight practice.
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