Summit County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the Summit County Resource Allocation Park, or SCRAP, around 8 p.m. July 11 for an unusual call — a falcon stuck in the dump’s netting. 

Summit Fire & EMS provided assistance to remove the male falcon from the netting, designed to keep trash from blowing away, because of how high off the ground the falcon was stuck.

Lt. Mike Schilling said the Sheriff’s Office has started calling the bird “Scrappy,” a reference to the location of his rescue. First responders safely removed Scrappy from the netting, coordinated with Colorado Parks and Wildlife and transported him to the Summit County Animal Shelter. 

Scrappy stayed at the shelter, where staff evaluated its injured wing, until Sunday, when a parks and wildlife volunteer drove him to an animal rehabilitation center on the Front Range. Schilling said Scrappy has a soft tissue tear on his left leg and wing, but he is taking anti-inflammatory and pain medication and is expected to make a full recovery.

“He’s eating and resting,” Schilling said. “Once he’s fully rehabbed, they are required by law to return him to within 10 miles of where he was captured, if feasible. That’s their plan, is to get him back to Summit County.”

The specific rehabilitation center housing Scrappy did not want to be named, Schilling said. He said he has not seen a bird get stuck in the SCRAP netting before, but added that the net is “relatively new.”

In an email, Schilling wrote that the rescue was a “heartwarming example” of first responder groups working together to “make the best of a bad situation.”

“The bird is now in the hands of skilled professionals, and we are all hoping for Scrappy’s full recovery,” Schilling wrote.