NYPD Saves Injured Hawk Struck in the Middle of Brooklyn Traffic

Two cops from the New York Police Department (NYPD) saved an injured wild hawk struck in the traffic at a busy intersection in Brooklyn on Jan. 23.

An injured hawk had got struck in a bust traffic intersection in Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Screenshot of the Twitter video by CitizenNYC)

The injured hawk, dubbed the #Williambird, narrowly missed speeding cars before NYPD cops put it into a cage and took it to a local wildlife rehabilitation centre.

A big crowd of onlookers had gathered near the three-way intersection of Lorimer, Lee and Wallabout Streets in Williamsburg at about 6 p.m., witness Francisco Paez, 36, told New York Post. The hawk stood in the middle of the street, helpless, according to videos tweeted by Citizen NYC.

“It seemed like it was sick,” Paez told New York Post. “It was just kind of scary that it was in the middle of the street and cars were going by ... I was afraid it was going to run over by a car.”

It was Paez who was able to move the bird to the road side by throwing his coat on him.

Not an Easy Rescue

A NYPD cop using gloves and a towel then approached the hawk, but it flew away onto a window across the street. The bird stayed on the window for sometime and again escaped when the police arrived, landing back in the intersection.

NYPD cops rescued an injured hawk from a busy traffic intersection from Brooklyn on Wednesday. (Screenshot of Twitter video by CitizenNYC)

Officers and curious onlookers then saved the bird from speeding traffic, including a bus, and finally managed to push him into the cage.

The bird was found to be suffering from moderate lead poisoning and was covered with grease, according to a tweet by NYPD 90th Precint, which saved the bird.

Hawks are common to New York City. According to Wildlife NYC, red-tailed hawks provide free pest control to New York as they feed on mice and rats. The city’s tall bridges and buildings also provide them with suitable nesting space.

New York’s hawks have had their own share of fame. A hawk named Pale Male that made New York its home since 1990 became so famous that he was featured in films and in children’s books.

Other Bird Rescues in New York City

This is not the first time that NYPD has rescued a hawk from a busy city street or intersection. Last year just before Christmas, NYPD rescued an uninjured hawk from the very-busy Penn station on Dec. 24.

In this case, MTA officials had called police. Detective Joseph Bucchignano was the officer who showed up on Christmas Eve to help the trapped bird. He pulled it out of the booth, put it into a cage, and released it over the Hudson River on the West Side Highway.

From NTD News