The Herts Advertiser sat down for an interview with the Flamstead falconer who's month-long work helped capture the famous Harris Hawk.
Experienced falconer Wayne Housden stepped up to the mark after being contacted by Dacorum police, and worked tirelessly to safely trap the bird of prey.
"It is a lovely bird. It needs a lovely home somewhere," Wayne began
"It's hard to find someone that will look after him as good as he needs to be looked after and treated how he needs to be treated.
"He's been failed once and we can make sure that never happens again."
Wayne assured he will participate in the "retraining process" and promised it would not be stuck in an "aviary".
He continued: "Steve went for a run and the hawk started attacking him the whole time.
"When he came back Steve went in the garden and it started attacking him again, so Steve held my cage up and walked down the garden towards him.
"He then threw the cage over the top of it, phoned me up and I said 'I'm ten minutes away, Steve, don't panic'."
Another nearby falconer helped Steve to properly trap the bird and it was put in a cage to be transported.
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Despite not capturing the hawk, Wayne was glad the job was finished and expressed his gratitude to Steve and fellow resident Richard Perry who made "countless cups of tea" and "came up with new ideas" throughout the process.
He said the thought of shooting the bird of prey never crossed his mind, even after Flamstead Parish Council warned it could be "euthanised".
Wayne said: "The whole village was lovely but some said to me - 'when do you draw the line?' I said, 'I don't draw a line', I'll stop trying to catch him when he's no longer here, whether I catch him or someone else has."
The falconer reminisced on the "countless times" he was close to capturing the bird and knew the Harris Hawk's luck was "running out" as it began to make "silly mistakes".
When asked why the Harris was lashing out at the community he said: "I don't know, it could have been an inherent territorial thing or something hormonal because it's coming to the breeding season now.
"He was making a nest so he may have been saying 'get away from my territory. I'll bang you'."
To avoid future encounters with people and birds of prey, Wayne warned that legislation must change.
"It's too easy for someone just to go and buy a Harris and fly it, then they end up losing it like this one." he said.
"These people need more background checks when they're buying these kind of birds, so they're bit more experienced."
The parish council was "pleased" to announce that the Hawk is now secure.
It thanked Wayne for his "herculean effort", over the past month, to help the village and the hawk.
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