Gang Nips Hawk Protecting Skies at London's Busiest Airport - Reports

A 1,000 pound reward is being offered for the hawk's return, an estimated two to five times his actual value. It remains unclear why the bird of prey was stolen in the first place.

Metropolitan police are looking into an incident at Heathrow Airport involving the theft of a six-year-old Harris' hawk named Milo, who was stolen from his owner's van last week, Sky News reports.

Security footage showed three men breaking into a vehicle containing the hawk at a car park next to the airport last Tuesday, with the hawk refusing to go with the gang before being grabbed and put into the thieves' silver Mercedes C-Class.

"He eventually did when they grabbed him forcefully, he was flapping and very distressed," Layla Bennett, Milo's owner and founder of Hawksdift Limited, a bird control service, told The Sun. "They threw him into the car and drove off with him out of his box," she added.

Milo is a working hawk employed by the airport, with his services used to scare other birds away from the airspace around Heathrow to prevent them from accidentally striking planes.

"He was bred to do the job he does. All I want is them to bring Milo back before it's too late," Ms. Bennett said. She is offering a 1,000 pound reward for the hawk's safe return, despite the fact that similar birds go for between 200 and 500 pounds among enthusiasts.

It's unclear why the thieves took the hawk, although Ms. Bennett suspects that they grabbed him while looking to steal tools from her van.

No arrests have been reported in the case.