Hawks!!

[jessicamary]

Ok, a man across the road from me owns a hawk. My darling little kitty somehow managed to get into the hawks cage, and the hawk went for her. By some miracle and quick intervention by the hawks owner she is ok, quite a few lumps of hair missing, and scratches, very shaken up - but alive.
The man was very upset about it, but did say to keep my cat away from his house?? At first I thought maybe I should keep her as a house cat, but then thought this would be very cruel.
So now I'm thinking what are the rules re owning a hawk?? The hawk is on a chain but the cage is open. Is this allowed etc?

[ripple]

I think that is allowed jessicamary. My friend owns a hawk, and leaves it out in the open tied to a semi-circle type thing in the middle of his garden.

Hawks need some sort of certificate to prove that thay haven't been taken from the wild as an egg or chick, and should have a ring around its leg. I think the paperwork might be called an 'A-10' or something but could be wrong. (personally I wouldn't bring this up as it will sound like you are being difficult, and chances are it is legal)

I can't imagine your cat will be back in about it after that ordeal, so hopefully everything will be ok?

[Sea]

Originally Posted by jessicamary

So now I'm thinking what are the rules re owning a hawk?? The hawk is on a chain but the cage is open. Is this allowed etc?

I think it is allowed, as long as they are tethered.
I guess most small animals would know better than to approach a hawk Possibly your cat was curious, maybe she even purposefully approached the bird and it was defending itself? If it was tethered then its not as if it could have attacked her unless she approached it...
Like ripple said, I think you just have to hope that your cat learnt from the experience of losing some fur and won't go back there again But if she does go back there then I guess you have a problem

[jessicamary]

Thanks all, yeah had a feeling it was legal. Don't get me me wrong, I actually really get on with the guy, and he did drive straight it when he saw his hawk on my cat and encounter lots of cuts etc.
I really hope my little one will have learnt from this and not go anywhere near his house again though. Gawd was in a right state when the son ran over and said how his hawk attacked the cat, and how she was in a total state, but ran off, so they didnt know how bad she was. But when she came come, she looked ok. Don't know but just totally adore my animals.
Just didn't know how I should/could stop her from going over.

[custardcreams]

it was your cat going onto his property so i dont think it's fair that he should be asked to give up his hawk because of this kind of incident.