A red-shoulder hawk with new babies in the nest is protecting their territory and attacking neighbors.
Sitting high in a tree in the Mt. Gilead community of Keller is a beautiful, red-shouldered hawk family with three new babies in a nest.
But the sign below their home on a tree is a warning to people passing by.
“They’re pretty aggressive hawks,” homeowner Daniel Schuman said.
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Neighbors said over the past few weeks the hawks have attacked people outside. Schuman's daughter has scars from being hit and she's not the only one.
All of a sudden I was hit from behind so hard that I just almost fell over,” Susan Torgen who was attacked said. “I grabbed my head, of course, the hawk was long gone. Grabbed my head and I was bleeding. He came down with such force that it was really powerful. I felt like I got hit by a baseball bat.”
Now neighbors are taking extra precautions whenever they have to go outside.
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“We've got the umbrellas, obviously, and neighbors, you know, wear helmets mowing their lawns, and no children are outside without a helmet on,” neighbor Alana Gray said.
The postal service also confirmed while mail is being delivered, the hawk has prevented the safe delivery of packages to some residents who now have to pick them up at the Roanoke post office.
“It's just gotten to the point that we can't function normally with this threat in our neighborhood,” Gray said.
That's why Gray said she spent days calling different agencies for help.
“We can't touch it legally, so we have to involve the right departments,” Gray said. “The right officials to handle it themselves.”
The neighborhood is now working with a wildlife biologist from the USDA. A plan to have the Hawks safely relocated is being worked out.
To learn more about USDA Wildlife Services click here.
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