Video of Alcohol-Sipping Hawk Earns Man Jail Time

Handing a boozy drink to a young hawk just landed a Los Angeles man behind bars. A judge sentenced Cesar Gustavo Diaz, 25, to 45 days in jail and a year of probation after footage showed him offering alcohol to a juvenile Cooper's hawk at a park in the California community of South Whittier. Diaz pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor animal-cruelty charge; a second misdemeanor count tied to capturing or possessing wildlife was dropped, per NBC News. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife says its Special Operations Unit started looking into Diaz after members of the public flagged the video, which showed the raptor sipping from what seemed to be a green BuzzBallz cocktail container at Amelia Mayberry Park on June 15.

"Hanging out with the homie," one of the image captions reads, per KTLA. Another: "Hawk loves him some buz ball." Diaz had already served 44 days in custody by the time of last week's sentencing, aided by good-behavior credit, per court records cited by NBC. His sentence also requires 24 counseling sessions and community service, bars him from caring for animals for five years, prohibits him from owning firearms for a decade, and hits him with $220 in fines and fees. Cooper's hawks are protected under federal and state law that bans harming, capturing, possessing, or selling the birds.