I came upon a hawk or falcon today while making a delivery to a house. It was tethered by the leg to a stake driven into the ground and had a large dog bowl full of water by it. Since it was in the front yard, I had to walk past it. It immediately tried to fly away but due to the tether, it continued to crash to the ground each time.

I called local animal control and they said they'd send someone out to check. I never heard back from them, obviously, so I'm not sure of the outcome.

My question is whether I should have called, at all. While it seemed like it could have injured its leg by trying to fly away from everyone passing by on the sidewalk, I didn't get a chance to speak with the owners of the home, so I didn't know if it was theirs. Was I in the wrong?

If it's a hawk in training, it's called jessed up.
They's someones hunting hawk. Who knows why he's jessed up in the yard.

quote:

was tethered by the leg to a stake driven into the ground and had a large dog bowl full of water by it.
Since it was in the front

They were weathering the bird.

It's a part of being a falconer.

I would have weathered my bird in the back yard. Yeah, you were in the right as spooking a tethered raptor could cause it harm.

Thanks for getting back to me, guys. I felt like a dick for calling it in but am glad I wasn't wrong for doing so.

Not my thread, but-IMHO, you're never wrong calling in suspected animal or child abuse. If you think something bad is happening, call. It's the right thing to do regardless. If someone gets hurt feelings, tough. There's too much abuse in the world right now.