WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A lamb born with seven legs will have to be euthanized, local media reported Thursday.

The animal has three hind legs, two forelegs and two extra legs that hang useless behind its forelegs.

Veterinarian Steve Williams at the Canterbury Vets clinic in the rural town of Methven said the lamb, born Friday, also was missing a portion of its bowel and so would have to be destroyed.

“To keep it alive is probably inhumane really,” Williams told the Ashburton Guardian newspaper.

Williams said he believed an error during embryo formation had resulted in the lamb being born polydactyl – with many legs – a condition that occurs once in several million sheep.

Injured hawk, rescue effort to save it slow down highway for commuters

PHILADELPHIA – An injured hawk partially blocked a highway Thursday morning, requiring a rescue effort that contributed to delays as commuters reached for their camera phones.

The female red-tail hawk, about eight weeks old, was found with a broken wing on southbound Interstate 95, said Jerry Czech, a Pennsylvania Game Commission officer.

He rescued the bird at about 9:30 a.m. and took it to the Webbed Foot Wildlife Clinic. The bird will be treated or euthanized, depending on the severity of its injury, director Michele Goodman said.

The hawk was probably hurt when it struck a car or flew too close to speeding traffic and rolled, Goodman said. The rescue caused delays of about 15 minutes.

From Associated Press reports