Last month, employees at the Goddard School of Woodlake, a preschool in Midlothian, Virginia, were surprised to notice an odd sound echoing from within a structural column at the front of the building.
Chesterfield County Animal Services
“[T]hey had been hearing an animal rustling around,” Chesterfield County Animal Services manager Lt. Carrie Jones told The Dodo.
Employees suspected the animal was a sparrow they’d seen nesting above the column in the days prior. In need of expert help, they contacted Chesterfield County Animal Services, who sent officers Messer and Powell to the scene.
Chesterfield County Animal Services
Officers used a camera to peek inside the column. Peering down the 10-foot-long tube, they were stunned to see someone much larger than they expected. It turns out, the trapped animal wasn’t a sparrow — he was a juvenile Cooper’s hawk.
The rescuers knew they had to act quickly. If they waited too long, the hawk might injure himself while trying to escape. Officers bent a fishing net into a J shape, tied it to a rope and lowered it into the column.
“The hawk eventually hopped into the net, and the officers were able to pull the net up and out of the column,” Jones said.
Chesterfield County Animal Services
Officers examined the hawk and were pleased to find he hadn’t sustained any injuries. They took him to the woods nearby and released him back into the wild.
Chesterfield County Animal Services
Watching the bird fly away, the rescuers couldn’t help but feel grateful.
“Releasing the hawk back into the wild was a happy and rewarding experience,” Officer Powell told The Dodo. “This was not the first animal Officer Messer and I have had stuck in a very similar situation, and I’m very glad we were able to have another successful save.”
