Mother Hawk Separated From Her Babies After Attacking Man In Somerville
SOMERVILLE (CBS) -- The hawk that attacked a man walking near a Tufts University building Friday has been captured. Experts say the mother hawk was protecting her chicks in a nest on that building.
State wildlife officials brought her to a sanctuary at the Blue Hills Trailside Museum in Milton. The bird has been tagged and will be released into the wild Tuesday.
"We've put a band on her so we can actually track her. Tomorrow morning she'll be on her way to go wherever she wants," says museum director Norman Smith.
WBZ-TV's Christina Hager reports.
He says she'll probably go right back to that Tufts building, but since her nest has been removed, she won't need her aggressive instincts to protect it. They say by then, she will likely have forgotten about her young.
Wildlife officials also brought her two chicks to the museum, where they plan to place them into "foster" nests.
"The wild parents will actually feed them and they won't know the difference, and the parents will come in and say, 'Where have you been all this time,' and start feeding them right away. Then they'll go off on their own and hopefully grow up to be adult red tail hawks in the future," says Smith.
Some witnesses reported seeing someone climb the fire escape on that building before the attack. Whether that happened or not, officials say they can't take any chances with the agitated hawk, especially with Tufts graduation ceremonies coming up.
The man who was attacked, Mike Doherty, had to have 15 stitches. Most were near his eye.
