Gaining the trust of wild animals?

R

Reznik572

Joined
Nov 15, 2009
Messages
391
Hey folks,

Thought I'd share this story with everyone...

I was back visiting my parents this past weekend and came across a old friend. The story starts about 10, maye 12 years ago. I was around 15 or so hiking through the woods back behind my house. I happend to come across a red tailed hawk at the base of a tree. This hawk was still young and no where near being able to fly, lots of feathers still coming in but it was a good size. Normally, I would have left something like this be but it had a very obvious broken leg and dusk was setting in. I figured if I left it for the night the coyotes or coons woulda finished him off during the night. I took him home and put him in my dad's garage in a large box. He didnt seem interested in any food offered until I realized the trick, you gotta wiggle the meat infront of him and he gets this reaction to go for it! Anyhow, he was raised on dew worms i'd gather at night and smoked black forest ham..my mother started to wonder where all the sandwich meat was going :)

His broken leg ended up healing bad and he couldnt really use his claws on his right foot, and when he eventually learned to fly his leg sticks out because he cant tuck it up. He had a few close calls when learning to fly, first flight he hit a wood pile, second he landed in the pool... He eventually figured the flying bit out and started spending the nights outside up in the tree's and he'd come down for feedings. I kept/fed him for about 3months during the summer and he suddenly disapeard in the fall. Over the next few summers he'd come back and even let me get close to him and touch him again. Well, its been about 10 years since we met, and probably about 6-7 since we've last seen each other.

This past weekend I was back home and out back with my old man grilling up some steaks. Out of no where this hawk comes and lands on the back of the house and comes to the edge where we were. I could tell it was him because his leg is still all messed up! I couldnt believe 10+ years later this little guy is still kicking around. and that he was able to tell it was me was a pretty cool feeling. He came close to letting me touch him and he ate the meat I tossed up to him. Pretty exciting! I'm going next weekend to see if I can get him to come around again, and bringing my camera along with me. I have some pictures of him from 10years ago that I need to get scanned to share with you guys.

Sorry this got long... but I was wondering if anyone else has gained the trust of wild animals? I know it may not be suggest to do so and could even be illegal in many areas, but thats not the question.
 
That's really neat. I hope you get some pictures of your feathered friend.

My story is not nearly as cool. But I remember 20+ years ago, I was "helping" my dad till up the garden in the spring. He accidentally hit a rabbit patch. I remember him yelling at me to go back to the house while he tried to clean things up. It was nasty. But I remember that a few got away, several died instantly and one was injured enough to keep it from walking. My older brother and I got a box and nursed the bunny back to health. We kept her for a month or so, rabbits grow fast. But we eventually released it in the back yard. The only reason I'm passing this chessey story on is it was cool that for years afterward there was one, just one rabbit that would let you get just a few feet from it before it would move away. She always stayed in our property and never bolted like all the other rabbits. To this day my father swears he can spot the rabbits from "her line" because of her distinct coloration on her chest. Whether or not that's true, I don't know. But I kinda feel like I did something good for God's creatures.

Now I just wonder if your hawk would eat my rabbit........
 
Awesome story. I imagine very few people can claim to have befriended a wild raptor. Lookin forward to seeing the pictures.
 
I once befriended a wild wolf while traveling cross country to find my father. I would hop trains and hitch rides, and the wolf would follow along. He even helped me out of a few tough predictaments.

Man those where the days

Signed,
Natty Gann
 
I knew a guy who was on a photo safari in Africa.

Saw a baby elephant holding one foot in the air.

Went up to it and saw a thorn jammed in under the nail.

Used his multitool to pull it out. The elephant gingerly put its foot down.

The two stared at each other for half a minute. The guy rubs and pets the elephant, adn it seems to enjoy it. The safari-goer noticed that the baby had a "notch" cut or torn into its ear.

The elephant then lifted its foot in the air and trumpeted, as well as a small elephant could, then waved the foot up and down in the air. A friend on the safari recorded the entire exchange on film.

Fifteen years later, this guy goes to the zoo to photograph newly-transferred elephants in a "viewer friendly" enclosure. He notices an elephant with a notch in its ear.

He makes his way closer to the enclosure, and the elephant seems to notice him. They stare at each other.

The elephant lifts its leg and trumpets, then waved the foot up and down in the air.

The guy realizes its the same elephant, and it remembers him! He enters the enclosure to see if he can pet it again.

The elephant silently watches him approach. He reaches to pet it.

Then the elephant grabs him in its trunk, throws him down, and stomps him to death.









Turns out, it wasn't the same elephant.
 
You guys are funny. :)

Over on paddling.net (kayak & canoe forum) a few months ago there was a river knife discussion. One of the guys said that he had once used his knife to cut tangled fishing line from a trapped turkey vulture. After doing so, the vulture followed the guy around for the rest of the day.

On yahoo last week there was a vid of a guy swimming and playing with a 17 foot crocodile. The croc had been shot and the guy had nursed it back to health. Now the croc and good Samaritan are friends. Here's the vid: http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?b=21&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701&tnr=20&p=crocodile&vid=272243557150&dt=1285685830&l=57&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D272243557150%26id%3Dd83451f97ecf793e1fc03be8c833010d%26bid%3DqE7Cn1mIgVXWnw%26bn%3DThumb%26index%3Dch1%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fvideo.foxnews.com%252fv%252f4352117%252ffisherman-befriends-giant-crocodile%252f&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fvideo.foxnews.com%2Fv%2F4352117%2Ffisherman-befriends-giant-crocodile%2F&tit=Fisherman+Befriends+Giant+Crocodile&sigr=127kmv596&newfp=1
 
That's a great story. Reminds me of that Christian the lion documentary. Pretty cool man, hope it returns for some new pics
 
Cool story! I had a wild toad that would hang out on the back porch near the door. He would wait for me to come out and throw bugs to him. One bounce and "slurp". Got pretty fat by fall.
 
i was out four wheeling in the desert and had one mustang mare come up to the truck. let my dog out and she sniffed at it, then started to bark so i had to put her back in the truck. i have pix of them nose to nose. the mare let me pet her, but i didn't have any apples or crackers or any other food. very tame acting animal for a horse i'd only met a few minutes earlier. he rest of her herd were off in the distance looking at us like "WTF?"
 
Very cool story and the fact he was still hanging around your folks house is very interesting. I would love to know how the hawk felt seeing you, being imprinted instinct or really "missed" you and waited around all those years.
Pics would be really great & thanks for sharing the encounter.
 
Wow this is an awesome story!
As the legs are their primary weapon, it is really amazing that the hawk kept living for decade.
Maybe raised quite a number of chicks and still remembers you!
 
My father had a raven that he rescued when we were kids. It stayed around for 10-12 years. It would land on his arm and hand feed. Wouldnt let us kids touch him though. I had one of those black furry jumping spiders live in my old pickup for several years. I would park under the street light and leave the windows open so the bugs would get in. He got to be bigger than a quarter. I sold the pickup with him in it!:eek:-KV
 
In the execution of my job, I have to gain the trust of wild animals, pretty frequently, so that I can photograph them from very close. I often end up within touching distance of wildlife.

However, this thread doesn't seem so much about how to gain the trust of wild animals; more about stories of forming friendships with animals, by helping them. So, here's such a story about a great blue heron I made friends with, when I lived in Santa Cruz:

This great blue heron moved to a pond in a park near my house, shortly after it fledged. I'd photograph at this pond pretty often – several hours at a time, a few times per week. Whenever I was there, I would prevent the children and dogs from chasing after this heron. Over time, the heron came to associate me with safety. I would come to the pond, and the heron would fly over and land by me, and hang around with me, where it felt safe. It eventually got in the habit of landing so close, that I'd need to back up, if I wanted to photograph it, in order to fit it's full head in the frame. We spent a lot of good times, together, enjoying each other's company, each of us doing our jobs and making our living, on sunny afternoons at the pond.

274804548_ef7aa07d0f_o.jpg
 
Evolute said:
Over time, the heron came to associate me with safety.
Click to expand...

That reminds me of a TV doco on lions. The wildlife cameraman was filming a lioness with young cubs - she couldn't watch the cubs and hunt, so she moved the cubs over very close to the cameraman and then went hunting. He would have liked to follow her and film her hunting, but somehow he had volunteered to babysit her kids! Of course in Africa most animals have learned to be wary of humans because they are very dangerous - the lioness used that to keep her cubs safe (she must have figured this human was doing nothing threatening). I thought it was interesting with the level of trust the lioness was placing on a human, especially for a wild animal.
 
fujita yuji said:
Wow this is an awesome story!
As the legs are their primary weapon, it is really amazing that the hawk kept living for decade.
Maybe raised quite a number of chicks and still remembers you!
Click to expand...

You should tell the people the story of Tama Chan...

Hopefully you all know the story of Elsa the lioness, raised by the Adamson's, taught how to hunt and returned to the wild. Elsa lived in two worlds, in ours and of natures. A beautiful and very moving story.....
 
Good story (heck, even the elephant story is good).

When I was a kid, we had a crow that came to us in similar circumstances. He lived with us for almost ten years -- roosted in a tree off our back deck, and came in every morning for breakfast. He would land on your shoulder, and he did a great job keeping the stray cats out of the yard.

For years, he was stalked by hawks and falcons. He didn't fly as high or as far as the neighborhood crows, and the way that he hung around the house attracted attention, since he probably looked weak and isolated. One day, a redtail got him.

Come to think of it, I think that bastard had a gimpy leg.

:mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top