tom ricardi with mass. bird of prey rehab center

Ricardi then intends to work alongside volunteers to repair the damaged cages in hopes of getting the facility back to normal in another couple months. He expects the company to remove the fallen tree, as well as some surrounding trees at risk of falling, within the next couple weeks.

This most recent hurdle adds to a string of obstacles Ricardi has had to face financially, including funding necessary facility repairs and buying food for the birds.Īfter getting an initial cost estimate of roughly $10,000 for tree removal, Ricardi got a second opinion from Northampton’s Cotton Tree Service, who he hired to do the work. Costs to operate the facility, funded mostly out of Ricardi’s pocket, have been recently soared with rising prices, he said last spring.

Ricardi, who has been rescuing birds of prey for more than 50 years, currently houses 60 raptors inside roughly 30 enclosures at his Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center in Conway. Hefty tree removal costs have prompted Ricardi to accept donations as he pursues the completion of facility repairs by early summer. One saw-whet owl and two great horned owls were killed as a result, while one peregrine falcon had to be moved to a different enclosure. Just ask raptor rehabilitator Tom Ricardi, whose bird enclosures were recently ravaged by a fallen pine tree.Īccording to Ricardi, the tree tore through one of the property’s cages and “flattened” another “pretty substantially” after the tree was uprooted during a storm earlier this month. CONWAY - Even those who are driven to help others sometimes need help.

Tom ricardi with mass. bird of prey rehab center