Stolen Wimbledon Hawk Rufus found

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London, July 2: Rufus the hawk, who used to scare off pigeons from Wimbledon has been found after it was stolen from its travel box in a car in south-west London, last week.

His owner posted the news that Rufus had been found from his Twitter account.

“Rufus is healthy and well… We are SO excited, happy and relieved,” News 24 quoted him as writing.

He had gone missing from Dunstall Road in Wimbledon on Thursday night along with its cage and handling glove.

A person had claimed to spot his abandoned box on Friday morning.

Martin Underwood, the manufacturer of the stolen travel box, took the phone call.

He said a young man told him: “I think I’ve found something that belongs to you.”

The BBC had reported at that at the time, Underwood was unaware that the hawk had gone missing, but he recommended that the man hand the box in to the police or the RSPCA.

The four-year-old bird is used to scare pigeons away from roosting on the roof of Wimbledon’s Centre Court in the mornings before spectators arrive.

This year for the first time, he was kept overnight in a parked car instead of being driven early in the morning from Corby in Northamptonshire.

There were fears for American Harris hawk’s welfare as his owner Imogen Davies said he would be getting hungry.

Asked how often he needs to be fed, Davies said: “When we fly him he is fed a few times daily.

“He mainly eats quail or chicken but he would eat any meat,” she added. (ANI)