Authorities are searching for a suspect who stole two trained hawks used for bird control at SoFi Stadium during Sunday’s Los Angeles Rams game against the Indianapolis Colts. The theft occurred around 2:20 p.m. local time, when a man drove off with a maroon Kawasaki Mule UTV parked near the stadium, according to the Inglewood Police Department. Affixed to the vehicle were two green containers holding Harris’s hawks named Alice and Bubba, used to keep nuisance birds away from the stadium on game days.
“I have a lot of time into these birds and a lot of effort,” falconer Charles Cogger told CBS New Los Angeles. “Alica was my like, you know, steady girl.”
Cogger said he worked with both birds for years. Alice, 20, and Bubba, 8, were part of a regular game-day routine meant to ensure SoFi’s skies were clear during play.
Witnesses reported seeing the suspect drive the UTV off stadium property. Police described him as a Black man wearing a black jacket with a white stripe on the shoulder, black pants and black shoes. It was later found abandoned in an alley about four and a half miles east of SoFi Stadium. The hawks were not inside.
At first, Cogger feared the worst when remains were found inside the vehicle, but they turned out to be frozen quail stored as food for the hawks.
“Now I have hope again, because they weren’t found on the cart,” Cogger said. “The boxes were there, but the birds were gone.”
Because both hawks were wearing hoods at the time of the theft, Cogger warned that they would be unable to hunt or feed themselves if released. Police offered a $1,000 Crime Stoppers reward for their safe return.
Harris’s hawks are medium-sized raptors native to the Southwest and Latin America. Known for their sharp eyesight and cooperative hunting, they are increasingly used in bird abatement programs at stadiums, airports and agricultural sites.
