Moment confused hawk is rescued from Bronx subway by volunteer after chasing a pigeon into a station: Predator has since been released into the wild
- A Cooper’s hawk was found and rescued after being trapped in the Westchester Square-East Tremont Ave station for a few days
- The hawk was believed to have followed a small bird or pigeon into the station and was unable to find its way out
- Station agent Paul Flores made multiple calls in an attempt to free the bird after noticing that it had been perched on top of a pipe for quite some time
- Volunteer Bobby Horvath arrived at the scene with an 18 inch net and managed to captured the bird and bring it to safety on Wednesday night
- The hawk was later released into the wild without injury
A Cooper’s hawk was rescued from a Bronx subway after it’s thought to have chased a pigeon in – but couldn’t figure a way out.
The hawk had been squatting in the Westchester Square-East Tremont Ave station where it was seen perched on a pipe for the past few days.
New York straphangers, more used to the city’s rats and pigeons, alerted agents.
A gent Paul Flores then contacted the Audubon Society, noticing the bird was ‘in some sort of distress and just tired of flying back and forth’.
‘It needed help just getting out of the station and it would be alright after that,’ Flores told ABC.
A Cooper’s hawk was captured and rescued on Wednesday night after it was trapped in a Bronx subway station
The hawk was seen perched on top of a pipe at the Westchester Square-East Tremont Ave station
The Society put him in touch with a volunteer who eventually caught the hawk. Bobby Horvath, a retired firefighter with the Wildlife in Need organization, used an 18 foot net to capture the bird on Wednesday night.
‘He was exhausted and he had a slight tumble, so I was able to net him on a step,’ Horvath told the network.
Horvath also added that the hawk likely would not have entered the station unless it was to catch prey such as a pigeon or smaller bird.
‘There’s no reason for him to go back down low unless he was catching food,’ he added.
The bird was later released at Pelham Bay Park on Thursday afternoon
The bird is said to be lucky to have fully recovered from the incident as approximately half of rescue animals never make back out into the wild due to the severity of their injuries.
Animal rescue volunteer Bobby Horvath used an 18-inch net to capture the hawk and set it free
It is believed that the hawk had gotten into the station after chasing a pigeon or small bird
Station agent Paul Flores made multiple calls to help free the bird after noticing its struggle
This is not the first time a bird rescue took place in a subway station after a swan was transported on a car to an animal shelter by a Good Samaritan.
In 2020, an animal rescue worker found an injured swan while at the Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge.
The worker was able to bring the animal to a clinic with the help of other NYC residents who helped to transport her and the swan to a nearby train station as she had only brought her bike.
The bird then rode on the A train from Howard Beach station to Nostrand Avenue.
It was then treated at the Wild Bird Fund and recovered with the help of the worker and her colleagues at the organization.
Horvath released the hawk at Pelham Bay Park on Thursday afternoon
The bird is said to be lucky to have fully recovered from the incident as approximately half of rescue animals never make back out into the wild due to the severity of their injuries
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