Dive-Bombing Hawks Threaten Texas Neighborhood
One family wears helmets for protection in their backyard.
— -- It sounds like a scene out of The Birds. Two broad-wing hawks have taken to dive-bombing the residents of a Houston, Texas suburb in their backyards.
“We’re just avoiding the backyard, which is terrible!” exclaimed West University Place resident Allyson Cunius. “We have a pool, we have a backyard, and we want to use it.”
Cunius and her family now wear bike helmets for protection when they go out back.
The problem started last week when one of the large birds swooped down and attacked the Cunius’ pool serviceman while he worked. Cunius’ husband later went into the backyard with a baseball bat, hoping to shoo the winged invaders away. Again, one of the birds attacked.
“We live so close to downtown Houston that getting attacked by wildlife is the last thing you would expect,” Cunius noted.
Allison Laird, who lives around the corner, put netting up over her backyard after the hawks attacked her husband twice in the same day.
"It's like funny/not funny, because my husband got scratched on the head," Laird told local ABC affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston. "The story sounds like a party joke. It sounds like it's made up."
Laird called 911, and Daniel Paripovich, Animal Control Officer for the City of West University Place, responded. Laird also called a professional falconer for his advice.
The verdict? It’s breeding season, and the hawks are protecting their young.
Paripovich said there’s not much residents can do but wait for the baby birds to leave the nest. That could take up to two sweltering months.
“I have faith that it’s a temporary situation that will alleviate itself, but it totally is the worst timing,” Cunius said.
