One bad bird

Reported today by the Gothamist, Galan, a hawk hired to patrol Bryant Park for pests reportedly mistook a Chihuahua for a rat, and attacked it yesterday. The falconer, Thomas Cullen, said this kind of thing had never happened before. Cullen’s “bird abatement” program employs a cast of 35 falcons and hawks to keep birds and rodents at bay in various locations around New York City, particularly at the airports, where the birds of prey have helped avoid as much as $2.4 million of damage caused by mid air collisions with seagulls. For Galan, however, it looks like early retirement. This isn’t the first time he’s been mischievous. During one partol he apparantly “ended up atop a nearby 18-story building” and could only located by his radio transmitter. According to Cullen, “Galan will no longer be flying in Manhattan.”