BATON ROUGE— The LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Wildlife Hospital released a red-tailed hawk on the levee near the school Friday afternoon.

The presumed female hawk was released at the LSU SVM on Skip Bertman around 1 p.m.

She was brought to the LSU SVM on September 2, 2020, with a broken wing caused by a gunshot. The hawk underwent surgery on September 4, where a metal pin was used to tie the two ends of the broken bone together.

During her six weeks of recovery, the hawk received antibiotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatories, pain medication, and fluid therapy. She also received laser surgery and acupuncture.

A single red-tailed hawk is a top predator in Louisiana and helps with pest control, eating up to thousands of rodents in a year.