Falcon's escape prompts tracking system upgrades

A falcon who took off from his trainer and was not found for three days has prompted a bird sanctuary to upgrade its tracking systems.

Frankie made off from the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary at Stonham Aspal near Stowmarket during a free-flight session on 24 July.

The team was unable to use Frankie's tracking device to find him as he was out of range, but he was eventually spotted three days later by a member of the public about 16 miles (25km) away.

Emily Quantrill, the sanctuary's general manager, said the site would now be looking to upgrade to GPS tracking, and joked that Frankie was currently "grounded to his bedroom".

"He has gone off before, but he tends to stick very close to the centre," Ms Quantrill said.

"This is the first time Frankie has really gone astray for longer than a couple of hours."

Ms Quantrill said a call later came in from a member of the public who believed he had spotted Frankie in his garden.

The sanctuary's head trainer Harry Wade was then "straight out at the crack of dawn, tracked Frankie across a couple of fields, managed to get a signal, saw him sat there in a tree," Ms Quantrill said.

"Frankie spotted Harry, came straight out of the tree and straight down to the glove... thanks to the general public we got him back," she added.

"It's been a long three days, but that's why he is now in quarantine for his own safety."

The sanctuary has now launched a fundraiser to upgrade their trackers to GPS.

"It is much more advanced, it's great for falcons, but unfortunately it very expensive," Ms Quantrill said.

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