Air Force hawk mascot suffers "deadly" wounds after army joke

Aurora, a 22-year-old football player who is one of the mascots of the Air Force Academy, was reportedly seriously injured following a joke by Army Cadets.

The injuries, which, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette, involved both wings of the bird, can be life-threatening and took place when they were removed from the home of an army colonel, told the Gazette an anonymous representative of the Air Force. The bird was returned to Colorado from West Point, N.Y., for examination.

"We have academia specialists who have the best training and the best facilities for his care," said Academy spokesman Lt. Col. Tracy Bunko. "She is part of the family of our academy and we all hope that she will recover quickly and fully."

Aurora is, as the Gazette puts it, the great lady of the half-dozen hawks of the Air Force, but because of the advanced age of the birds, their wounds may require euthanasia. He has traveled with the cadets for over 20 years and is quite docile. However, their two-inch talons make them difficult to handle if they are upset. These birds usually live about 25 years in captivity.

Falcons are kept at school and have a guardian cadet badigned during their travels. Quarreling can be difficult and they have sometimes escaped. Prior to the 2010 Independence Bowl, a hawk had taken off before being found in downtown Shreveport, La County.

Because of the bird's injuries, the Air Force had only one hawk during the match, which the Army won 17-14.

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