Red-Tailed Hawk With Hole In Crop

The following story about a red-tailed hawk was shared with us by the World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri.

This red-tailed hawk was found starving with a ruptured crop after an unknown cause of injury. The crop is an important part of a hawk’s digestive system that allows them to store larger quantities of food to slowly process throughout the day.

The red-tailed hawk’s rescuer witnessed the bird trying to eat, but each bite kept falling out the hole in their crop.

With EmerAid IC Carnivore, we were able to provide much needed calories directly into the stomach with gavage feeding and get the bird stable enough for a surgical repair of the crop hole.

After repairing the hole in the crop, we continued tube feedings of EmerAid to avoid damaging the delicately sutured skin with solid food.

The red-tailed hawk healed quickly and was able to be released back to the wild at a healthy weight after just over one month in care.