Young hawk’s Bend power-line death points to issues

A young red-tailed hawk was the apparent cause of a power outage affecting 4,500 customers in downtown and west Bend Wednesday afternoon, and a wildlife rehabilitation specialist says there are ways to prevent such encounters.

The bird was found dead at the scene.

“It’s heartbreaking,” High Desert Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation representative Jeannette Bonomo said Thursday. “I don’t think people are aware how often this happens.”

The hawk is the latest victim of electrocution. Bonomo said it happens when birds or other wild animals cross wires when resting or scrambling along power lines.

“We see a lot of birds,” said the wildlife organization’s veterinarian, Dr. Jeff Cooney. “Probably in the last year we’ve seen eight”

Cooney said most of the animals die, but the rescue group is currently rehabilitating another red-tailed hawk that survived a power-line encounter.

“His feet were severely burned — everywhere there’s a bandage was black,” Cooney said.

When his feet heal, the hawk will go back to the wild — hopefully with better luck. Cooney said it’s a preventable tragedy.

“A lot of power poles have been retrofitted — in other words– to put up devices, to keep birds from electrocuting themselves, but there’s still a lot of work to be done,” Cooney said.

Pacific Power spokeswoman Angela Price said the downtown Bend power line where the hawk was killed will be retrofitted with avian safety features. She said company policy takes a reactive approach to modifying power lines for animals, but makes all new construction bird-friendly.

Price said in the last few years, Pacific Power has retrofitted 8,000 poles and added 100 nesting platforms, spending $9 million on environmental projects since 2010. She said the work is part of Pacific Power’s commitment to various federal bird protection acts.