A raptor flew into the netting of a golf driving range, where it was stuck for two days before being rescued on Saturday afternoon.
The bird, believed to be a young crested goshawk, hung upside down for 48 hours at Warren Golf and Country Club in Choa Chu Kang, watching helpless while golf balls whizzed towards it in the baking sun.
Maintenance staff from the golf club first tried to shake the netting to free the bird, which was suspended by one of its feet from the height of a three-story HDB block.
That failed, only ensnaring the bird further. So the club called the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF). According to a member of staff at the $25,000-a-year club, asking for assistance from the SCDF would have come at considerable cost, so they called animal welfare charity ACRES.
ACRES volunteers arrived on the scene at around mid-day on Saturday to find the bird exhausted, but still showing signs of life.
The club was asked about the possibility of taking part of the net down to free the bird, but they declined, saying it would take too long and be too costly. One staffer told ACRES that the club had taken the netting down before for a minor repair, which set the club back $5,000.
The club was also asked if their members could stop playing during the rescue effort, for fear that the ACRES team or the hawk would be hit by a stray ball. This request was also denied. However, the club did ask its members to stop hitting their balls in the direction of the rescue operation.
After an hour-long safety and risk assessment briefing from the club’s management, ACRES volunteer Gabriel Cai — an engineer by trade — climbed one of the beams holding the net in place.
He was able to reach the bird by using tree branches to ‘walk’ towards it, but had problems unhooking the animal as the net had cut into the flesh of its foot.
Using a long pole, a pan handle and a pruning saw, Cai was able to work the bird free from the net after a three-hour effort. The bird glided to the ground, disorientated and flustered, but probably very glad that it would no longer have to watch any more golf.
The bird landed, and was met by Cai’s co-volunteer Lee Anne, who placed a towel over the hawk’s head to calm it down and examined the animal’s injuries. The rear claw was swollen, but the bird could still make a strong grip, so it could perch and hunt. There was no damage to the wings.
The bird was given a drink of water, and suddenly took off, prompting a nearby flock of pigeons and mynahs to quickly evacuate the area.
Crested goshawks, which have short wings and long tails, are adept at manoeuvring through trees, but not so capable of negotiating large nets, it seems.
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