Man Rescues Injured Eagle
Published: March 16, 2007
An Ames man was in the right spot to save an injured bald eagle.
The entire rescue was caught on tape.
Matt Pyle and his brother were running errands in Ames over the weekend when they noticed the injured eagle.
They called the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and then their parents, who brought cameras to the scene.
From the bank of the Squaw Creek, the goal was as clear as the picture — to rescue the eagle before she became further injured.
“He was being dive-bombed by crows and the crows were just picking on him. I said, ‘Ben, he looks hurt, we should probably take a look and see what we can do,’” Pyle said.
Pyle followed the eagle as it made its way down the frozen creek. He never stopped watching. His mother never stopped rolling her camera.
“It ended up being a track meet because she could run and fly a little bit then she was perched on a branch. Then after some time, she tried to fly north where the open water was. Then she got into the water,” Pyle said.
Pyle jumped in, too. After an hour-long chase, the eagle was finally in reach.
“She ended up getting on her back and there’s that picture where she has her talons straight out in the air and her wings spread and mouth open. The water was flowing towards me so she was coming towards me. I was able to get her turned over and picked her up and handed her to the DNR,” Pyle said.
The men took her to a wildlife care center, where they discovered the bird had an injured wing.
“You could see she had a gash on her left wing toward the inside by her body,” he said.
They also discovered the bird was almost ready to lay eggs. The rescue most likely saved more than one bird.
“I’d like to think so, you know. I hope I can just save that one, you know. They’re a magnificent animal, you know. They’re regal. They really are,” he said.
Wildlife officers planned on releasing the eagle Tuesday, but they said the bird is stressed in captivity and they want to keep her a few more days.
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