HAPPY VALLEY, Ore.—When you lift the hood of a U-Haul truck, you’ll notice top-of-the-line machinery. What you won’t usually find are live animals.
U-Haul Transfer Driver Bill Tannhouser was having another regular day at the office, driving a 26-foot U-Haul truck back to the Portland Repair Shop when all of a sudden he saw a hawk hit his truck. It turns out the hawk somehow wedged itself into the engine compartment.
“He must’ve dive-bombed for a rabbit or something because I saw him circling above me,” Tannhouser recalled. “I thought I killed him, but when I pulled up to the shop to check it out and I saw those talons come up, I said, ‘Uh-oh, he’s alive!’”
Because the hawk hadn’t paid for any U-Haul services, Tannhouser and fellow transfer driver, John Buxman, decided to get the freeloader out of the truck.
Saving the hawk proved to be a tricky task, however, but after removing a portion of the truck’s grille they were able to safely remove the bird and place the confused animal in a box.
Buxman then contacted people from the local National Audubon Society chapter, who rushed over and took the box and bird. After a few weeks of rehab, the hawk was released back into the wild, with Buxman in attendance for the ceremony.
Shop Manager Brandon Almond says the hawk has become something of a mascot at his shop.
“It’s definitely not a common problem we have with U-Haul trucks,” Almond joked. “It was pretty cool to rescue a live hawk and now we have a picture of it mounted in the office. He’s the U-Haul Hawk.”
Have you ever saved an animal? Tell us in the comments.
