Police, residents come to the rescue of hawk injured in Pennsylvania road

July 17 (UPI) -- Police, a local official and members of the public came to the rescue of a young hawk that apparently was injured by a car while feeding from a Pennsylvania road.

Pottsgrove Township Manager Ed Wagner worked with police and bystanders when the red-tailed hawk was spotted struggling on Pleasant View Road.

"He tried to fly a couple times, he got about this high, flew five feet, and stopped," Wagner told WPVI-TV.

The rescuers were able to chase the hawk into a nearby yard and corner it by the back porch.

"We threw the coat over the bird's head and we put it in the box," Wagner said.

The hawk was taken to Aark Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Chalfont.

"In the wild if you're overzealous and get ahead of yourself, you get yourself into trouble," center executive director Leah Stallings said. "As he was hunting small things on the roadway, because that's easy, I now believe he was hit by the car."

"Sometimes we have to do the hard thing and bring them into captivity, even though captivity is stressful," she said.

She said the hawk will eventually be returned to the wild.