Wings of Wonder to release Bald Eagle

From staff reports

Rebecca Lessard and Wings of Wonder will release a large Bald Eagle on Saturday, May 28 at the Empire Eagle’s Club property (the old Dunegrass Festival field) eight miles east of Empire, on M-72. The public is invited to attend this grand event, which begins at 11 a.m. Don’t forget to bring a camera, and you are asked to please leave the dog at home. Wings of Wonder will pass the hat to raise funds for future eagle rehabilitation and releases.

According to Lessard, this Bald Eagle was admitted to Wings of Wonder in late March after being rescued from the Wexford County landfill by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. She was sick and injured, and unable to fly. An initial exam revealed that the bird had a healthy weight but was very weak and sick. She also had hard, black crusty “crud” covering her feet as well as multiple wounds to both feet. “It was obvious that she had ingested some contaminated food, plus waded through some fairly toxic material which had dried and hardened onto her feet,” said Lessard. “Her body feathers were extremely dirty as well.”

Immediate treatment involved diluting the ingested toxic material in her digestive tract. The Bald Eagle was tube feed fluids and kept warm and quiet in the Wings of Wonder clinic. Within two days she was up on her feet and beginning to eat solid meat.

“We did daily foot soaks and scrubs on both feet, but found it nearly impossible to remove the crusty material,” added Lessard. “So both feet were bandaged in wet-to-dry medicated bandaging. She stayed bandaged for about three days. When the bandages were removed, both feet were finally clean, but the wounds were severely infected. The eagle was put on two different antibiotic treatments and daily foot soaks were continued.”

Two weeks later the bird was moved from the hospital to a 10×12-foot enclosure outside. After four weeks of treatment the infections finally cleared and the eagle was moved out to Wings of Wonder’s large, 100-foot flight pen. She has been gaining strength ever since and is now ready to be released back into the wild.

This eagle was banded as a young chick by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Her numbered bands reveal that this eagle was hatched in Michigan 12 years ago. She is blind in one eye, the result of an older injury. But Lessard says she seems to have adjusted fine with this disability.

“I believe that his eagle tangled with another eagle in Wexford County, which would explain the multiple and deep wounds to her feet,” explains Lessard. “I have decided not to release her back down in Wexford County as I do not want her returning to her previous territory right away. I am hopeful she will remain in this area, as there seems to be plenty of food and hunting areas.”

For more information about the Bald Eagle release, please contact Wings of Wonder at (231) 326-4663 or visit www.wingsofwonder.org.