NYC Becomes Animal Kingdom

AP) A hawk down in midtown Manhattan? Another bird of prey grounded across town? A lamb on the lam in the Bronx? True. All in one day. The series of animal adventures began around 10 a.m. Wednesday when a former parks commissioner reported spotting a hawk that had crash landed. At about 11:30 a.m., several blocks away, came a report of another wounded bird, this time an American kestrel.

The birds were rescued by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which determined they were 7-week-old fledglings shaken up while testing their wings. Both were expected to recover and be returned to the wilds of Manhattan, where a growing population of birds of prey nests on high-rises and feasts on squirrels, rats and pigeons, said the current parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe.

"It's the season when birds are learning to fly, which is not easy to do in midtown," Benepe said.

Around 11 a.m. came a report of a sheep running around the Bronx. Police captured the female lamb and turned it over to an animal rescue organization, Animal Care & Control of New York City.

The 7-month-old lamb caught a break, said shelter manager Liz Keller. She apparently escaped from a live animal market, where she would have been sold for food. Now she's bound for a farm sanctuary elsewhere in New York state.

"The staff named her Lucky Lady," Keller said. "She's adorable."