BALTIMORE, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A red-tailed hawk injured last year when she crashed into a library window at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore was put to sleep, wildlife officials said.
Despite ongoing efforts to help her recover, the bird had suffered nerve damage too serious to overcome when she shattered the quarter-inch glass, they said.
"The impact of the glass was just too much," Kathy Woods, who runs the Phoenix Wildlife Center in Baltimore County, told The Baltimore Sun Tuesday.
The hawk and her mate were such common sights at the university they had attained "celebrity status on the Homewood campus," The Gazette, the university's newspaper, said.
Initial X-rays of the injured hawk revealed no broken bones, and Woods had been optimistic the bird could recover.
But as months passed the hawk never managed to stretch her injured wing, Woods said, and she was euthanized last month.
"She would pick at and shred the feathers, and it just finally got too much for her," Woods said. "She was uncomfortable not being able to even perch normally, and the decision was made."
Woods said she hopes the hawk will posthumously become an "ambassador for bird-friendly buildings" in the city.
