Cops launch rescue for injured hawk

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Two police officers who typically spend their days helping people who live in Albuquerque spent their morning trying to save one of New Mexico's larger birds.

Officers Larry Smyth and Stanley Gray were on their way to work when they spotted an injured hawk tangled in barbed wire.

The officers stopped, used a tool to cut the wire and then covered the hawk's face with a jacket to calm it down.

They called 311, the city's information hotline, and brought it right to a wildlife rehabilitation specialist:

"I was relieved that it wasn't shot, that it was in fact just entangled in the barbed wire, that we were able to get it free and get it the help it needed," Gray said.

At first it appeared only the skin on the bird's leg was torn, but later a detailed examination showed the wound to be more extensive and severe than originally believed.

When it was determined the hawk could not recover from the injuries, it was humanely euthanized.