A viral Facebook post\u00a0claims that park rangers and veterinarian offices\u00a0have warned owners of small pets of trouble in the air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Park rangers and vet offices are putting out warnings. This year the hawks seem out in force,” reads a now deleted\u00a0post\u00a0 by the page Mentone News & Information.\u00a0“The pets that are in real danger are ones who are 12 pounds and under. These are the pets that hawks can swoop down and grab.”<\/p>\n
The top of the image reads, “HAWK WARNING” in large red bold letters and the page captioned the image, “Keep a(n) eye on your small pet’s!”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Upon being contacted by USA TODAY,\u00a0Mentone News & Information deleted the warning and said that a source should have been included in the post.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, the same post has already been reshared\u00a0by Facebook pages Jamie’s Animal Rescue on\u00a0March 16 and Hardin County Humane Society in a March 14 post with over 12,000 shares.<\/p>\n
“This is no joke! Predator birds such as Hawks and owls are in full force right now. Most of their ‘diet’\u00a0did not survive the freeze , so they are out hunting more than usual and desperate for food,” Jamie’s Animal Rescue wrote. “They don\u2019t care if it\u2019s domesticated or wild. It all tastes the same to them”<\/p>\n
The posts do not specify a location or veterinarian office that sent out the alleged warning.\u00a0Hardin County Humane Society said they\u00a0had no comment. USA TODAY reached out to Jamie’s Animal Rescue\u00a0for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Fact check:<\/strong>Yes, people experiencing homelessness are eligible for the stimulus<\/span><\/p>\n It is unclear where the post originated, however,\u00a0the earliest version of the post dates back to\u00a0the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley in\u00a0November 2015.<\/p>\n The image was shared to Animals Matter’s Hamlethub, and the warning reads that hawks are out in force “off the east coast,” which has been colored out in the social media versions of the post.<\/p>\n When the warning first went viral in 2016, CBS Philadelphia reported that KYW Newsradio checked with different park rangers, vet offices, animal control departments, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey divisions of fish and wildlife. None was aware of any sort of hawk warning.\u00a0<\/p>\n Later in 2018, the image went viral on social media once again, when Christine Newman,\u00a0operations officer for the Toms River Office of Emergency Management, shared it on social media after her 7-pound dog had a close encounter with two hawks circling overhead, according to\u00a0Philly Voice.\u00a0<\/p>\n Newman’s post got shares from users in Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, Arizona and other states. It sparked a debate online on whether a hawk would be able to carry a small dog.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fact check:<\/strong>Viral image of rare blue turtle actually shows an artist-made glass pendant<\/span><\/p>\n It is false to claim that a hawk can carry away a 12-pound dog; experts say a hawk cannot carry more than its own weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dr. Jason Weckstein, associate curator of ornithology at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, told CBS Philadelphia: “If you have chickens you may be worried a little bit” but “you don\u2019t have to be worried about dogs and cats.\u201d<\/p>\n Hawks Aloft writes on its frequently asked questions page that “there are many urban myths about hawks or owls attacking and carrying off cats and dogs.\u00a0 Neither hawks OR owls can carry off more than their own weight.”\u00a0<\/p>\n However, it is still recommended that animals less than 15 pounds be supervised at all times when outdoors because of other predators including owls, coyotes and hawks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Val Cunningham, a volunteer with\u00a0the St. Paul Audubon Society, debunked the claim that hawks can fly with a dog\u00a0and noted that the situation depends on the weight\u00a0of the dog and the hawk.\u00a0<\/p>\n “Hawks appear large, but under all those feathers there\u2019s a very lightweight bird with air-filled bones,” he wrote for the Star Tribune in February 2020. He added that the most common backyard raptors are red-tailed hawks and Cooper’s hawks and usual prey for them consists of\u00a0small animals such as mice, voles and squirrels.\u00a0<\/p>\n Fact check:<\/strong>El Chapo did not testify about Nancy Pelosi \u2014 or anything else \u2014 at his US trial<\/span><\/p>\n An image claiming that park rangers and vet offices released warnings about hawks being out in force and keeping pets indoors is FALSE, based on our research. The image first appeared years ago and there have been no identified park rangers or vet offices issuing such warning. Further, experts say that hawks are not able to carry more than their own weight.<\/p>\nNo evidence of warning<\/h2>\n
How much weight can a hawk carry?\u00a0<\/h2>\n
Our rating: False<\/h2>\n
Our fact-check sources:\u00a0<\/h2>\n