Sandra Johnson became an animal rescuer after she was struck by a person with their truck while on the job flagging along a roadway.
Looking for something to do with herself after she stopped working due to the injuries, she began volunteering with the organization Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society, known as OWL, in Delta, helping animals with their recovery journeys.
The non-profit rescues and rehabilitates injured and orphaned raptors and helps educate the public on the importance of these wild birds.
While Johnson was first volunteering with OWL, she was living in Surrey. When she later moved to Chilliwack it was a bit far for her to do regular care for the animals, so she started doing outside rescues for the organization.
Three years ago, she moved to Williams Lake. While she hadn’t done any rescues for some time, the organization knew she was in the Cariboo, and so when they got a call about an injured hawk at Sugar Cane back on Aug. 21, 2025, they then contacted her.
The call had come to OWL from Rylan Kerber, the senior law enforcement officer with Williams Lake First Nation.
Kerber had first received a call from a community member who had been out walking in the woods with his dog and came across a hawk on the ground. Concerned when his dog approached the hawk that it did not fly away, the man contacted Kerber out of concern for the animal. Kerber then went to see the hawk with the man and they agreed the bird needed help and Kerber called OWL, who put him in touch with Sandra Johnson.
She met with Kerber at Sugar Cane, who took her to where the bird was and she confirmed the hawk needed help.
The bird was a juvenile red-tailed hawk, and when Johnson arrived, the animal was up in a tree out of reach and appeared to have a broken wing.
Johnson said many birds are injured along roadways, often attracted to roadside food thrown from vehicles or road killed animals.
“For a red-tail, she was very big,” said Johnson.
“When you throw an apple core out the window, you think it’s just an apple core, it’ll rot in the ditch, whatever, but that’s not what happens. What happens is a mouse comes out to eat the apple and a bird comes down to grab it and gets hit by a car,” she said, providing an example of something she saw all too often along the freeway in the Lower Mainland.
“Daily, they get hit daily,” she said.
Other times, Johnson said birds can get sick from rat poison and lead contamination. This particular hawk, however, may have been injured in a fight, but not having seen it happen, she said it is hard to know.
To get the bird down from the tree, Johnson guided Kerber in using a long branch, carefully employing a safe strategy to get the bird to grab onto the branch and then bringing it down. She and Kerber were able to then capture the bird and secure it in a crate.
Johnson kept the hawk for two nights, feeding it with food she keeps in her freezer for these types of occasions, and then sent the bird to the Delta rehab centre with her husband, who was heading down anyhow.
Birds at the rehab are examined and diagnosed by vets using x-ray and other tools, then kept in cages which allow them to heal. Once injuries heal, the birds are put into a large flight pen in order to relearn their skills and gain strength. The birds are banded for identification and then taken back to where they were rescued for release when ready.
This particular red-tailed hawk was able to heal and regain its flight strength in time for a fall release, and so when it was time, Johnson and Kerber were once again ready to help. The two put together a bit of a team for the release, which happened on Nov. 21.
Kerber contacted the Williams Lake First Nation Culture Team, and Cecil Sheena and Val West came out to give some cultural context to the release. Johnson, who normally went on walks on the day the release was planned for, brought along her walking group as well, so they could continue with a walk once the release took place.
The company and the cultural element made it a special one for Johnson and Kerber, both of whom spoke of the impactful prayer provided by Sheena, and his explanation of the connection of the bird to the land and the people.
“It was absolutely fantastic,” said Kerber of the experience.
Johnson said it hit home for her when Sheena called the hawk “the winged one” and referred to the bird as a relative, inviting those there to share in the prayer for the animal’s continued healing.
“It actually made it quite emotional,” said Johnson.
“It was cool to see how a community can come together and help support and save wildlife,” said Kerber.
Kerber, who had also helped with a bear rescue and release with the Northern Lights Society, said the public should never hesitate to contact the proper authorities when they see wildlife in distress. But due to the potential for serious injury, members of the public shouldn’t attempt to capture an injured raptor on their own.
“It’s not easy always, because they are strong and the talons that they have are incredible, they’re daggers,” said Johnson.
She also has a rescued eagle in OWL from Little Fort she hopes to be also able to release next year, but the eagle’s injuries were serious so Johnson isn’t sure the bird will survive.
Anyone seeing injured or orphaned wildlife can contact a number of rescue organizations in B.C. Though there are no wildlife rescue or rehab centres in the Cariboo, there are local rescuers like Johnson or Sue Burton who help capture and transport wildlife to rehab centres in other areas. For more information, go to: https://spca.bc.ca and look under programs and services for wild animal programs >wildlife rehabilitation.