Hawk rescued after being hit by car, stuck in vehicle's grill in Massachusetts: 'It was a miracle'

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Friday, January 17, 2025
Hawk rescued after being hit by car, stuck in grill in Massachusetts
A hawk is recovering at Tufts Wildlife Clinic after being hit by a car and getting stuck in its grill on I-495 in Chelmsford, MA on Thursday.

CHELMSFORD, Mass. -- A hawk is alive and recovering after it was hit by a car in Massachusetts on Thursday, getting stuck in the car's grill, WCVB reported.

The rescue was no easy feat. The helpless red-tailed hawk was lodged in the grill of Judy Harmon's Honda SUV.

"And so, I got out - I'm looking at him, and he's turning his head, looking at me. He wasn't squawking. His arms were flat out like this," Harmon said.

Harmon was driving up Interstate 495 in Chelmsford when she heard the collision, but had hoped the bird somehow made a narrow escape.

"I saw his wing come up on the hood - I said, 'Oh, my God, he must still be on the car!'" Harmon said.

She called 911 and pulled over at a rest stop, but a responding trooper and animal control could not free the hawk.

Stan Dekhtyar had the tools they needed.

"This is a first, definitely," Dekhtyar said.

State police called over to Nucar Honda of Westford, a few miles down the road, where Dekhtyar's the service director.

"We were able to take off top layer of plastic shrouding and tilt the grill forward," Dekhtyar said.

His expertise was exactly what the hawk needed.

"When they got him out, they put him in cage, stood up on both feet and he looked out at me," Harmon said.

Veterinarians at Tufts Wildlife Clinic later discovered a fracture in the bird's wing and other chronic injuries.

But Harmon is hoping the resilient hawk can recover after the team effort to save its life.

"It broke my grill - car three months old, 'wah, wah, wah,' but the best outcome is the bird lived," Harmon said. "It was a miracle. It was a miracle."

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