The Carolina Raptor Center Needs Your Fish
Because of a recent influx of injured osprey and eagles, the Carolina Raptor Center needs your fish.
The rehabilitation facility for birds of prey in Huntersville recently posted a request on Instagram, asking for donations of fish for the center’s recovering residents. Raptor Center officials say almost any kind of fish is welcome except catfish. Donated fish should be 3-12 inches long, whole, and not frozen for more than three months. Fish can be donated 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily at the Raptor Hospital on Sample Road in Huntersville.
Raptors include eagles, hawks, falcons, owls and vultures. Raptors are medium to large birds with hooked beaks and large talons for gripping prey. They feed primarily on meat.
The Raptor Hospital at the Carolina Raptor Center treats injured birds of prey year-round. New patients are usually brought in by good Samaritans. According to the Raptor Center’s website, the number one cause of injury to birds of prey is vehicle strikes.
“Raptors are hit by cars when trash of some sort has been discarded on the highway and has attracted rodents to the side of the road. Birds of prey focus on available prey items to the exclusion of cars speeding by and are often injured or killed as a result.”
