Officers from the 20th precinct and an NYPD special ops team rescued an injured hawk in Riverside Park around 79th Street on Sunday. Helen Miller explained the details and took these photos:
“Just before 4pm a woman called the police to report an injured hawk. Units from the 20th precinct responded and asked for the Emergency Service Unit to help with the injured bird. Using a net and a sheet, one officer from the 20th precinct and two from the ESU were able to gently maneuver the bird into a pet carrier. From there they took the hawk to the Animal Medical Center on East 60th Street.”
The 20th precinct also got some photos:
#HappeningNow. Officers Bisland & Soto help to rescue an injured Hawk! Thanks @NYPDSpecialops for your assistance! #uws pic.twitter.com/7D5rnWform
— NYPD 20th Precinct (@NYPD20Pct) February 26, 2017
Outstanding.
Thank you, NYPD 20! That’s beautiful, and so appreciated, truly.
So happy he/she was rescued! 😀👍
Kudos to the 20th precinct !
Thank you officers of the 20th for the rescue of our neighborhood hawk! Officers of the 20th precinct rock!!
Big thank you to the officers and ESU team who rescued the injured hawk. I’m just wondering why they took it all the way crosstown to the Animal Medical Center instead of to the nearby Wild Bird Fund (87th & Columbus), which specializes in treating and rehabilitating injured birds. Whatever — good work, officers. I hope the hawk survives and goes back to its work of helping to keep the local rat population in check.
Don’t the officers know that the West Side has the best place for injured birds? The Wild Bird Fund on Columbus and 87th. Perhaps the existence of this phenomenal bird rescue haven should be known to all.
The WBF is a wonderful place and provides such a great service for our community. I know many people that have volunteered there, but they do not have a veterinarian there 24/7. The Animal Medical Center is a 24hr emergency hospital with state of the art equipment that does provide care for avian and exotic animals and could triage the hawk rather quickly. I am sure the NYPD did what was in the best interest of this Hawk. Thank you NYPD!
They obviously didn’t know but they did know how
to safely rescue the hawk and of a safe place to take it for medical care. It seems to me that is what is
important. Perhaps AMC filled them on the rest.
Love that our folks in blue were willing and able to rescue a feathered friend. We value and love our mouse/rat-eating hawks! Many thanks for a job well done!
Thank you, officers!
In (possibly related) other hawk news, there was a low-flying hawk over Tecumseh playground (77th and Amsterdam) this afternoon around 4pm. It was carrying a small animal such as a rat or squirrel and flew not very far above our heads before landing on the roof of a brownstone across the road!
I want to know the outcome because putting a hawk into a container like that isn’t so good for the bird and I agree with Roslyn about having the bird place in Columbus handle this. Not the police.
I’m curious why the hawk was injured. Also, if the city relies on hawks to control the rat population, why does it spread rat poison in the parks? They do know that gets back to the hawks, right?
I’m the woman who called and waited for the police to arrive at the 79th street entrance to/from the boat basin. I took pictures of the injured hawk standing in a large puddle at the top of the steps. By the time the police showed up the HAWK jumped up on the concrete wall and walked into the park where the police later found the bird.
Kudos to you Judy, amazing that you not only called but waited for help to arrive. So the hawk wasn’t the one pictured in the photo? Did it have an injured wing?
Nice work.
We seem to be losing these hawks regularly – mostly due to vehicles.
Seems to have been an uptick in rat sightings in the west 70’s recently. Hopefully this rat eater will be working the neighborhood soon again.
They took the bird to an animal hospital. Thru didn’t just do this without asking or calling someone who knows what they’re doing first. Cops do a nice thing and people still criticize. Good god. They helped a bird, called who they needed and got the bird help.
About a week or two ago, I saw a hawk perched on the back of a bench along the path north of the boat basin. He sat a while and then flew over to the railing and perched there. Looked to be making himself comfortable. Thought he had found a new home.