A Clear Lake woman saw one of her animal rehabilitation projects come full circle Friday afternoon when she was able to release Shirley, a red tail hawk, back into the wild after several months of rehabilitation.

 

Wearing the heavy gauntlets necessary when handling agitated raptors, Terri Goenner took a short course in hawk releasing techniques from the volunteers in the rehabilitation program before grasping the legs of the hawk, whom she had nick-named “Shirley”, and preparing for the moment of release Friday afternoon in a field near her home.

 

With a gentle swaying motion of her arms, she released the raptor into the wind. For her part, Shirley was a blur of motion the moment she knew she was free, leaving the photographer with only a partial portrait as she streaked into the sky to begin her life again.

 

Goenner’s daughter Emily found the injured hawk along Co. Rd. 16 in Clear Lake in June, where it has sustained injuries that may have come from a collision with a vehicle.  They contacted the rehabilitation group, who took the hawk into care and nursed her injuries until she was deemed fit to fly last week.

 

Goenner has an obvious affinity for animals, as a visit to her Clear lake home will clearly show.  Last Friday, for example, in addition to the more than 90 head of sheep she maintains, she was fostering one dog and several cats as well.  Another part of her business is “pet sitting”, where she will come to a client’s home and stay there while they are away, tending to the pets and/or stock as needed.

 

The sheep are her main project, with a shearing set for some time in October to produce the wool she sells locally at Anoka Fiber Works.  All of the dyes used are created from plants grown on her farm, Goenner said.

 

She also mentioned another successful rehabilitation she had a hand in earlier this year, when she found a Canadian goose alongside the road, another possible victim of a vehicle encounter.  With the help of a passer-by, she was able to wrap the goose’s wings in a large towel, and then zipped it into a large athletic bag she happened to have in her car.

 

Once inside the bag, with its head protruding from the middle, the goose remained remarkably calm once in the car on the road to rehab, Goenner said.