New York Post, Friday, February 27, 1998


State wants to know why falcon died in city care

By WILLIAM NEUMAN
and DAVID SEIFMAN

State environmental officials are investigating why a rare peregrine falcon died two days after it was taken in by a city animal shelter.

The bird -- one of a small number of the endangered species that makes the Big Apple home -- was found on a Midtown street Feb. 10.

The Center for Animal Care and Control was called, and the bird was taken to its shelter on East 110th Street, said CACC spokeswoman Faith Elliott.

The ailing bird was later rushed to the private Animal Medical Center by an agent for the State Department of Environmental Conservation, who spotted it while visiting the shelter on another matter.

It died within minutes.

"The bird was extremely weak. It was literally on it's last legs," said AMC director Dr. Guy Pidgeon.

Now State and city agencies are wrangling over who got the rare bird -- and when.

Barbara Loucke, a State research scientist, said officials are trying to determine how long the bird languished at the city shelter.

Elliott said the CACC had the bird for less than 24 hours -- and it was taken to the AMC on Feb. 11.

But AMC records show it arrived at 5 p.m. the following day.

Manhattan City Councilwoman Kathryn Freed called the tragedy "just another example of no one minding the store at the CACC."

There are currently 12 nesting pairs of pergrines in the five boroughs -- and a band on this bird's leg showed it was born in Manhattan two years ago.