The Delta Police Department says it’s taking to the skies with the hire of a bald eagle named Sonsie to keep an eye on traffic and other community assignments.
According to a press release, appropriately timed for April Fool’s Day, the department has partnered up with Delta’s Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) to take on a talon-ted raptor that has been in the society’s care since 2002.
Sonsie is a male bald eagle who was sent to OWL as a chick. Because of his constant contact with humans over the course of his life, Sonsie “imprinted on humans” and is not able to be released back into the wild.
In September 2018, the release said, OWL’s raptor care manager Rob Hope noticed the bird getting “increasingly depressed” and reached out to Chief Const. Neil Dubord, noting that Sonsie is “highly intelligent, focused, and easily conditioned.”
“After careful consultation with the City of Delta and OWL, the Delta Police Department have hired the majestic bird to be the eyes in the sky of Delta,” the release said. “Sonsie, renamed Police Service Eagle (PSE) Goose, will be a working eagle, concentrating on traffic enforcement, particularly in school zones and on the [South Fraser Perimeter Road], and community events.”
The release states that PSE Goose is outfitted with a lightweight wireless Bluetooth-enabled camera and, through extensive conditioning, can now easily identify police vehicles from the sky and notify them of traffic violations.
PSE Goose is out on his official first shift. Keep a look out for him, and don't forget to slow down. Remember, he has eagle eyes.#DeltaPoliceDepartment #DPD #DeltaPolice #PSEGoose #EyesInTheSkies #NoCallTooSmall #ToServeAndProtect pic.twitter.com/uLkIDcIy4J
— Delta Police (@deltapolice) April 1, 2019
“The Delta Police Department is excited to welcome PSE Goose on board,” Dubord said in the release. “We feel that PSE Goose is a great investment to the DPD and the City of Delta. He is both environmentally and economically friendly, and can monitor Delta in a way we never thought possible.”
“It is not very often that we get to release a raptor from our care, who has been in contact with humans from a young age,” Hope said in the press release. “The Delta Police Department has given Sonsie/PSE Goose a new lease on life. We look forward to seeing him soar above Delta.”
The DPD wasn’t the only police department to get in on the fun on April 1. B.C. RCMP announced the service’s plans for a Police Cat Services branch, while Surrey RCMP introduced Gill, a member of the department’s new Finned Integrated Shoal Team, or (FISHT).
READ MORE: Police Cat Services: The RCMP’s purrfect way to fight crime
SEE ALSO: Something’s fishy about Surrey RCMP’s new ‘aquatic member Gill’
Meanwhile, the Abbotsford Police Department released a video showing the wide variety of creatures that occupied their building on “Bring your Pet to Work,” including goats, tortoises, snakes, a tarantula and even a donkey.
READ MORE: Abbotsford Police event attracts horse, goats, snakes and more
Thank you to @OWLRehab and @ChiefNeilDubord for playing along; we had a lot of fun with this one. Check out our blooper reel below#DeltaPoliceDepartment #DeltaPolice #DPD #AprilFools #NoCallTooSmall pic.twitter.com/ps7HKVYKhq
— Delta Police (@deltapolice) April 1, 2019
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