Two Hawks Released Back Into The Wild

LEAGUE CITY, Texas (AP) — A Houston wildlife rehabilitation center has released two red-tailed hawks back into the wild after one was blown from its nest and the other was injured earlier this spring.

The Wildlife Center of Texas released the two hawks Saturday on the grounds of a nature center in League City. The two were the last of more than 30 orphaned or injured red-tailed hawks the center took in this year.

Sharon Schmalz, executive director of the Wildlife Center of Texas, tells The Galveston County Daily News (http://bit.ly/1NGIdag ) that the reddish-brown birds of prey "have such a great role in the environment." She says they eat poisonous snakes, rats and mice.

The wildlife center takes in almost 9,000 orphaned, injured, oiled or ill animals each year to nurse back to health.