Viral Video Shows Gregory Scott Schriner Removing Cactus Spines From a Young Hawk in Arizona

A video recorded in Arizona on October 24, 2015, showing a man freeing a young hawk from cactus spines lodged in its feathers has resurfaced and gone viral on Reddit. The man, Gregory "Greg" Scott Schriner, is seen over roughly two and a half minutes using a knife to scrape the spines away while holding the bird's beak to keep it from escaping. He removes clusters of needles from beneath the creature's head and from one wing, narrating his actions to the camera and saying quietly, "Here you go, buddy," after clearing more of the spines. As the footage continues, additional spines appear on the feathers of the hawk's back even after earlier clusters seem cleared, and not every needle is ultimately removed. The bird nevertheless flies off immediately once released, which viewers read as evidence of the relief Schriner provided. Reddit commenters praised his gentleness and expressed surprise at the hawk's calm, with one writing that animals sometimes seem to understand human help. Another user who said they had banded birds in college attributed the stillness to tonic immobility, a hypnotic, disorienting state that effectively paralyzes birds and is produced when the hawk is placed on its back. The clip was posted to the r/HumansBeingBros subreddit, and its renewed circulation has been framed as proof that kindness remains worth sharing.