Falcon ditches dump duty in Canada

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WINNIPEG, Manitoba, July 21 (UPI) -- A falcon that went AWOL from a Canadian landfill may have caught a wayward wind current, its trainer speculated.

Arlington, a Saker falcon, went missing recently from the Brady Road Landfill in Winnipeg where it was part of an eight-bird squadron assigned to chase away sea gulls.

No one has seen Arlington since then, but wildlife biologist Emily Craster, who trained the falcons, said an upper-level prairie wind may have carried the bird off to who knows where.

"What happens is that on a lovely day, on a nice windy day as well, they go and have fun up in the air and they can get taken away with the wind," she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

"He could have gone in any direction," she said.

Arlington is equipped with a bell and a radio transmitter. Anyone who spots the wayward bird is asked to call 1-877-OWL-1-OWL.