What's for Dinner?

Dear Hawk Creek Family,

One snowy day this winter a wild turkey vulture appeared walking along the outside of our perimeter fence. It was uncanny how it looked like he was trying to find the emergency entrance. We quickly realized he had a wing injury and couldn’t fly. Apparently, this vulture didn’t get the memo that we had made the difficult decision to pause our rehabilitation work to protect our resident animals from the prevalent, deadly threat of avian flu. Of course, we couldn’t turn him away so we brought him into quarantine and began helping him heal.

At a moment’s notice, we had another mouth to feed.

Due to the nature of the injury and time of year we anticipate having him here for at least six months. A stay like this can easily cost $1500. We couldn’t have planned for this, but from our many years of rescue work we have learned to expect the unexpected. It is our responsibility to step in and help animals in need, so we need to always be prepared.

A walk-in freezer was a dream for many years, and it’s finally a reality! With our deepest gratitude, we want to thank everyone that was involved in the completion of this vital project. By having more food storage space, we can make your donations go even further by taking advantage of sales and stocking up when food costs less.

Can you help Hawk Creek stock the freezer ?

It’s not quite as easy as stopping by the grocery store if we are running low on supplies—providing food for all these animals takes a lot of planning and preparation. We need to have our freezer stocked in case of emergencies like unexpected rescues, covid, or major snow storms that can delay shipping. Just a few years ago we lost our supplier of rodent donations without warning.

Hawk Creek provides a home for animals with nowhere else to go. Unlike domestic animals that can eventually be sent to new homes, these wild animals require specialized care and can only live at a licensed facility for the rest of their lives. We work tirelessly to provide them with a nutritional and varied diet like they would find in nature.

"Skye" the Hyacinth Macaw was not fed a proper diet for the first ten years of her life. When we rescued Skye she was partially blind, had a heart murmur, and her feathers were a dull grey. She did not have one blue feather. We were told she probably wouldn’t survive, but we helped her beat the odds and she is still here 14 years later. Hyacinth Macaws can live to be 80 years old and while we have helped her feathers return to a healthy, brilliant blue—we will be managing her other health conditions for the rest of her life. Just one bag of the nuts that are an integral part of her diet costs $90. Taking in a Hyacinth Macaw is a huge responsibility, they have a long lifespan and their specialized diet is expensive, but seeing Skye thriving is so worth it.

Your support helps us give specialized care to animals like "Skye." Feeding the animals that call Hawk Creek home costs about $73,000 each year.

Every contribution counts, big or small. $25 feeds our smaller owls for a week and $100 can feed a sand cat for a month!

With a $250 donation, you can choose to feed all of the animals, including vitamins and treats, for one day! We will send you a personalized photo and a certificate of the date that you fed all of the animals at Hawk Creek!

We know there are many organizations doing great work, and we are humbled to receive such incredible support from our community that continues to choose us. Your support makes a difference in our community and the lives of animals.

Soar with the Eagles,

Loretta C. Jones

Executive Director