Rescued eagle on display at Wildlife Sanctuary

Published: January 15, 2007 | 5302nd good news item since 2003

The Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary introduced a new member of its birds of prey exhibit Thursday in a presentation more dramatic than originally intended.

The female eagle, which joined two other bald eagles and two golden eagles in the exhibit, bit staff member Lori Bankson, causing an injury that required several stitches, according to the sanctuary.

But by Thursday afternoon, the eagle was settled into its new home and was already sharing a branch with a male eagle.

“It seems like they’re going to get along well,” said sanctuary curator Mike Reed.

The pairing isn’t intended to produce eaglets, but to enhance both birds’ quality of life.

“Some birds are more solitary, but eagles tend to stay together almost all year long,” Reed said. “They do a lot of bonding activity, peer bonding activity, so it just makes their life richer to have a mate in the cage.”

The eagle was banded in 1995 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan while it was still too young to leave the nest.

In August, it was found on the Menominee Indian Reservation starving, dying of lead poisoning and infected with West Nile virus. It had lost two toes as a result of being caught in a trap.

“The middle toe in front and the back toe are the really crucial killing, gripping toes that birds of prey need,” Reed said. The eagle was missing two of its front toes. “That makes that foot virtually useless for catching prey.”

The chances of the bird now surviving in the wild are low because of the missing toes and the long-term effects of lead poisoning. But eagles can live 30 to 50 years in captivity, Reed said.

The 6-year-old bird does not yet have a name.

“We usually wait until we see the personality a little bit and get a better feel for the bird before we name it,” Reed said.

Published in Animals
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