Hawk Gets Stuck in Picnic Table + Rescued From New York State Officer

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Officers are busy. Whether you see them or not, the nearly 300 officers are able to take over 26,000 calls. That is how many calls DEC officers got in 2021.

That is A LOT of phone calls.

But, they protect and serve our parks and forest and even have to do the occasional animal rescue. Take a look at this hawk that got stuck earlier in the month. Orleans County ECO Fonda responded to a complaint of a hawk in distress at Lakeside State Park in the town of Carlton. According to the New York State DEC website: "When Officer Fonda arrived, he found a juvenile red-tailed hawk with its leg caught in a picnic table, unable to free itself. ECO Fonda safely freed the hawk from its precarious perch and released it unharmed."

Take a look at the video below! The DEC posted the video on Facebook and one commenter suggested that the hawk was probably looking for food or taking a rest when it landed and got stuck between two boards on the table.

I thought this was a pretty eye-opening stat that you can find on the DEC website. In fact, you can read all of the high-profile calls that the DEC gets across the entire state right here:

In 2021, 282 Environmental Conservation Police Officers (ECOs) and Investigators across the state responded to 26,207 calls and worked on cases that resulted in 11,562 tickets or arrests for crimes ranging from deer poaching to solid waste dumping, illegal mining, the black market pet trade, and excessive emissions violations. Some of these incidents result in injuries, property damage, or even death, and starting this year, 'ECO Highlights' is transitioning to a new title, 'Environmental Conservation Police On Patrol.'