Search continues for hawk missing from Fresno zoo. ‘An extraordinarily rare occurrence’

Fresno’s Chafee Zoo is in the midst of a bird hunt.

The zoo’s Harris’s Hawk — Ripley — has been missing since Saturday, when it flew away from the Winged Wonders Bird Show.

“This was an extraordinarily rare occurrence,” Chaffee Zoo general curator Nicole Presley said in a statement Monday.

The birds in the show are free-flying and sometimes go off course and into nearby trees. Usually, they return and fly back home.

In this case, “Ripley strayed into the territory of local Red Tailed hawks that are nesting here,” Presley said. The hawks chased Ripley off of the zoo’s grounds.

Staff started an immediate search in the area around the zoo and Roeding Park that lasted until Saturday evening. On Sunday morning, they watched the sunrise horizon for any signs of the bird.

On Wednesday morning, Ronnie Kerestus, the zoo’s curator of animal outreach and well being, told The Bee that the search continues.

“We’ve been non-stop. He’s not going to go very far.”

Missing Harris’s Hawk in Fresno

While Harris’s Hawks aren’t native to the central San Joaquin Valley, they are a Northern American bird and live in the southern part of California.

Kerestus said that means Ripley should be able to survive in the wild, even though he was raised in the zoo and has known trainers and handlers his whole life.

“We’re not worried that he’s suffering,” Kerestus said. “Worst case is that we can’t find him.”

There is a chance Ripley could try to return to the zoo, Kerestus said, though the heavy population of Red Tail hawks in Roeding Park makes that unlikely.

While the search has included areas of downtown Fresno, Kerestus said, Ripley probably won’t perch up in one of downtown buildings, either.

Instead, he’ll post up in a taller tree — a pine, pine eucalyptus and Chinese elm — that’s secluded from Red Tail hawks where he feels safe.

The zoo is asking the public to be on the lookout for Ripley.

The bird can be identified most easily by its trail, which will be dark with fluffy white feather close to the body and another white band at the tip. There will also be an identification band on his left leg.

Getting a picture of the bird, even at distance, will be helpful in identifying it, Kerestus said. Otherwise, try to keep a line of sight on the bird or track its general direction and call the zoo at its 24-hour emergency hotline 559-286-7403.

Several tips have already come in from the public, including some possible sightings in Clovis. So far, most of the sighting have been of Red Tailed Hawks, Kerestus said.

“But we’re taking every call seriously. We only have so many eyes at the zoo.”