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Forget the chalupa, just Drop the Chihuahua!



Happy Holidays All,

This appeared in the Gainesville Sun on December 23, when we were visiting
family in Florida over the Christmas weekend.  It was accompanied by two
photos, one of the hawk, and one of the prey and its owner.

Paul Shewmaker
leftshew@globalvision.net
Simpsonville, SC




`Drop the Chihuahua'
doesn't work on Hawk
===================================
* A woman attacks a
hawk trying to rescue
her pet from its talons.
-----------------------------------
  NICEVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Forget the
chalupa, just "Drop the Chihuahua."
  That's what Sandy Parks
shrieked when a juvenile red-tailed
hawk dug its talons into Bandita,
the spitting image of the talking
Chihuahua in Taco Bell's "Drop the
chalupa" commercials.
  The hawk found itself in a tug-
of-war with Parks, 61, because
Bandita was on a 5-foot leash when
the raptor sprang from a neighbor's
bushes Monday.
  "Here I am, yelling "Drop the
Chihuahua! Drop the Chihuahua!"
she recalled Tuesday.  "I am sur-
prised I didn't scare the hawk away.
I had no idea they had that much
tenacity. I've been hungry before,
but I've never held on to food that
much."
  She yanked on the leash and
slammed the 2.6-pound bird and 6-
pound dog into the outside wall of
her duplex in the Bluewater Bay
community near this Florida Pan-
handle city.
  The hawk, still grasping Bandita,
dropped to the ground and Parks
stomped its belly. It refused to let
go until she dragged the animals
into her doorway and slammed the
door on the hawk's legs.
  Both animals were treated at the
Niceville Animal Clinic, where vet-
erinarian Dr. Jim Whiteside discov-
ered the hawk was suffering from a
previous injury, a wing broken in
two places, clinic receptionist
Laura Lassiter said Wednesday.
  That's apparently why the hawk,
weighing just half of what a bird
with a 5-foot wingspan should, had
resorted to preying on a pet.
  The wing was healing well on its
own and needed no further treat-
ment, Lassiter said. The hawk suf-
fered only a broke feather in its
battle with Parks. It will remain at
the clinic until the healing is
complete, which should take about
six weeks.
  Bandita's puncture wounds were
patched, and she went home with
Parks, but not before some tense
moments when Audubon Society
members brought the hawk to the
clinic.
  "So there we are, the bird in a
box and the dog in a cage in the
same room," Parks said. "She
wasn't too thrilled about that."
  Parks also got a lecture about
how it is illegal to batter hawks,
which are protected by federal
migratory bird laws.
  "I just wanted to say 'Listen, put
me in jail, fine me, just take care of
my dog,'" she said.  "The bird
wasn't afraid of me and once he lost
fear of humans, he could have been
dangerous. What if it had been my
granddaughter or one of the neigh-
borhood kids out walking the dog?"
  While recuperating, the hawk
won't be dining on kids, Chihua-
huas or chalupas.
  "We're going to fatten him up on
some rats and then release him,"
Lassiter said.