A job assignment for some Apple Valley police officers hit close to home.
"I think it's ironic that our high school is the Apple Valley Eagles and we had the opportunity to rescue a couple Apple Valley eagles yesterday while at work," Captain Nick Francis said.
Francis said a call came in Monday afternoon for two eagles that were fighting, and then got locked together by their legs and talons on the side of the road. It happened in a quiet neighborhood without much vehicular traffic, but "they were in need of some help and they were in trouble."
"The little bit I know about eagles it's somewhat common this time of year during migration and some of the mating they will fight like that for territory," he said. "Usually when they're falling down to the ground while they're fighting they can break free, but in this case they must not have been able to break free and came down to the ground and were still tangled."
Normally the department works with the U of M's Raptor Center, using gloves and covering the eagles with a towel to put them in a kennel to transport them to wildlife experts. However, police had only just begun to cover the Eagles when they were able to free themselves. The pair flew away shortly after.
"You need to understand that the birds are wild animals, there is a potential for a danger to get injured there," he said. "Your police department is paid to make these decisions and we have the resources to call in, whether it's a conservation officer or the Raptor Center and we have some equipment, we deal with animals quite often."
The Apple Valley Police Department says "no call is too small," especially for the hometown eagles.
"Within about five minutes they were gone and we couldn't even see them anymore," Francis said. "We're happy to have a quick resolution to something potentially deadly to both of those birds."