A red tailed hawk in Manatee County is getting a second chance after flying straight into the grille of a truck.
- Visitor to Mixon Farms had a hawk stuck in his truck's grille
- Wildlife sanctuary located at the farm
- Hawk rescued, released the next day
The video of the man saving the hawk is going viral across social media.
"He came and rescued the bird from the radiator. It was wonderful, it was neat,” said Mixon Farms tour guide Kaliah Muck.
Muck was taken back when a visitor's car pulled up to Mixon Farms in Bradenton with a baby hawk stuck in the truck's grille.
"He pulled over as he got closer to the farm and realized that it was stuck inside the grill. He was pretty amazed by it and so was I," said Wildlife Inc. Vice-President Damen Hurd.
Mixon Farms includes Wildlife Inc., a wildlife sanctuary trained in treating animals like this hawk. However, Hurd said this was not a normal situation.
"It’s a decent size bird, but it's not something you expect to fly through a hole in your grille and be between the radiator and the grill. Definitely a surprise for everybody," said Hurd.
Hurd said the hawk was still young and probably didn’t know better when it flew into the car.
"The bird was lucky that it didn’t get burned, and it was also lucky that it just didn’t have any trauma, major trauma to its wings or legs," said Hurd.
The Hawk did not have any extensive injuries being released into the wild the next day.