11 Jan Raptor Strip Release
I had been rehabbing an injured brown goshawk and she was more than ready for release. I chose a calm early morning to release her and I was accompanied by a raptor researcher as he had been involved with her rehabilitation. The release went really well for about 15 seconds when a family of magpies dive bombed her and as she hit the ground I started running to rescue her from the magpies, I did not have a towel with me so I did the first thing that came to my mind and pulled off my shirt exposing myself to all and sundry; I caught her and wrapped her in my shirt before realising I was only wearing an old but comfy bra. No one quite knew where to look…not one of my better releases.
We eventually released her later the next day after checking to make sure she was ok.
I did learn a valuable lesson that day, never be without a towel no matter what.
Sorry I refuse to put up a photo of my partial nakedness… but have attached a photo of a Barking Owl I released instead.