{"id":598061,"date":"2026-04-10T14:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598061\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T14:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T14:46:19","slug":"firmly-wedged-hawk-freed-from-car-grille-in-astonishing-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/598061\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Firmly wedged’ hawk freed from car grille in ‘astonishing’ rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vets in Hastings have pulled off what was described as a “remarkable” rescue of a hawk that was lodged in a car grille, thanks to some careful planning and a trip to a car workshop.<\/p>\n

VetsOne vet nurse Nadine Hook said the bird \u2013 known as a swamp harrier or k\u0101hu \u2013 was freed from its predicament after about 80 minutes when staff were notified.<\/p>\n

In a post to Facebook, the clinic said an \u201cunderstandably shaken\u201d woman brought in the bird while it was stuck in the front of the MG she was test driving.<\/p>\n

“The impact had sent the bird straight through the front grille of her car, wings outstretched across the bumper like a giant, feathered butterfly. The hawk was stressed, scared and firmly wedged in place.”<\/p>\n

With the help of one veterinarian and two veterinary nurses, pain relief and slight sedation was administered so the team could work safely on freeing the hawk<\/p>\n

Once the hawk was calm, a plan was made to get it free, which involved folding the wings back into a natural position, and then manoeuvring them through the grille.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Source: VetsOne Hastings\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

Once the wings were folded into place however, the vets found the bird was “firmly wedged” between the radiator and surrounding panels.<\/p>\n

“Both the upper and lower access points were sealed \u2014 there was no safe way to reach the hawk from inside the engine bay.”<\/p>\n

The rescue team then took a trip to a car workshop, where a mechanic was able to carefully cut open the already-damaged grille, while a nurse gently lifted the hawk out for a full assessment.<\/p>\n

Hook said in her Facebook post it was “astonishing” to find the bird had no major injuries, despite the “dramatic impact”.<\/p>\n

The hawk spent a night recovering but an morning assessment confirmed he was fit for release.<\/p>\n

“With just a final dose of pain relief to ensure a comfortable transition back to the wild, the team prepared for the big moment.<\/p>\n

“The instant the towel was unwrapped, he launched out with absolute gusto. He climbed effortlessly into the sky, circled overhead in a few confident loops as if to get his bearings \u2014 or perhaps to say a quick thank you \u2014 and then flew off toward the sunset, free once more.<\/p>\n

“A remarkable ending for a remarkable rescue.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

(Source: VetsOne Hastings\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

Hook told 1News she was worried at first about the bird’s condition, but the only thing she could find was a \u201clittle smear of blood in the corner of the mouth, but it was dry, and there was nothing else\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wings was fine, the body was fine\u2026 there was nothing I could see that was worrying me.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was worried also about burns, because the radiator was quite close and he was touching it with his feet, but there was no issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said the moment the bird was freed the next day after its night at the clinic reminded her of why she does her job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis job has really good highs and has also got really bad lows\u2026 it just reminds me why I chose to do this job, and there\u2019s nothing quite wildlife and seeing them return to where they come from.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vets in Hastings have pulled off what was described as a “remarkable” rescue of a hawk that was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":598062,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[1313,64,63,218678,128,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-598061","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-hawke-s-bay","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598061","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=598061"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/598061\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/598062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=598061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=598061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=598061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}