Red-tailed Hawk Blood Transfusion

This Red-tailed Hawk was discovered not moving in a park in Mountlake Terrace. When she arrived at the PAWS Wildlife Center, she was hypothermic, anemic, and so weak that she couldn’t stand. With the bird’s history and clinical exam findings, the most likely cause for the anemia was determined to be blood loss from anticoagulant rodenticide toxicity.

Our veterinary team placed a catheter in the hawk and then proceeded to extract blood from a healthy raptor patient for an emergency blood transfusion. The blood was administered slowly, and within an hour, the hawk was standing. She continues to improve and will receive a full treatment for suspected rodenticide poisoning.

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