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Erica Techo
Eric Parker receives instruction on proper release of a hawk.
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Erica Techo
Eric Parker, an employee at the Highway 119 Chick-fil-A helped release a hawk at the Treetop Nature Trail.
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Erica Techo
Eric Parker, an employee at the Highway 119 Chick-fil-A helped release a hawk at the Treetop Nature Trail. Parker said he was nervous about holding the hawk at first.
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Erica Techo
Eric Parker, an employee at the Highway 119 Chick-fil-A helped release a hawk at the Treetop Nature Trail.
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Erica Techo
Eric Parker is congratulated after a successful release.
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Erica Techo
Eric Parker, an employee at the Highway 119 Chick-fil-A helped release a hawk at the Treetop Nature Trail.
The Treetop Nature Trail at Oak Mountain State Park released a recovered Cooper’s Hawk today, and Eric Parker was asked to help.
Parker, a Shelby County resident and employee at the Highway 119 Chick-fil-A, was asked to help by County Manager Alex Dudchock.
“We knew we didn’t need to have one of us releasing the hawk, we needed to have somebody special, like Eric,” Dudchock said.
Parker’s manager Blake Kell rode with him to the release, which Parker did not know about until moments before it occurred.
The hawk was injured when fishing line wrapped around its foot, exposing bone. He has been receiving care since March.
Parker was instructed on how to hold and release the hawk, and it was successfully released back into the wild.