October 28, 2009

Eagle Update

Here is an update on the Eagle that was released two weeks ago from Bobby Horvath:



We were very happy that James Obrien and Peter Richter and his dad were
able to trek out here to come release the young  bald  eagle we rescued
last winter that came in with lead poisoning and some unknown sticky
substance on her feathers . We met with DEC personal  who banded her
along with another bald eagle Cathy nursed back that came in with avian
pox virus back in August  . Well we put her on the ground and she
appeared stunned with her new found freedom and hopped and skipped along
in the tall grass. We caught her and thought that maybe she needed a
little lift so we then put her on a 5 foot perch which she took off
beautifully from and sat in a tree 100 yards away which we watched her
till we had to leave.  Ten days later I was at work as usual when the
shit usually hit the fan  and Cathy gets a call that a guy found a huge
hawk at the beach and now its in his garage. Well that day it was
pouring and Cathy had the 2 kids to deal with so she asked if he could
put it in box for her. He said yeah if he had a refrigerator box
sarcastically . many people exaggerate the size of animals but this guy
did not. Seems he was driving on the parkway about a 1/2 mile from she
was originally picked up by us back in 12/08 ( Captree State Park , 20
miles south of the release spot in Smithtown) when he saw this soaking
wet bird that looked in trouble to him as I asked him what made him
stop. He had nothing in his car but a robe, don't ask me why but thats
what he threw over her and put her in his trunk. So Cathy gets to his
house and opens the garage door and hears crashing around inside the
dimly lit room. Only after she opened the door cautiously about a foot
off the ground she sees the blue band on the leg which he never
mentioned and she immediately knew who it was. She called me at work
screaming its the eagle its the eagle and I thought she was messing with
me cause we do play with each other when one goes on a rescue without
the other and rub the other ones face it it playfully. She survived once
again , reverting back to her old ways grubbing fish from fishermen
throwing food to her at the beach. Shes back here like she never left
sad to say but happy she wasn't found dead or worse not found at all.
Her future is uncertain for now. Obviously we want the best for her but
how many lives can one silly eagle possibly have ? We thought about it
when we released her the first time that she has spent more than twice
the time of her short life in captivity than in the wild. She got
perhaps 5 months time out of the nest and 11 in a cage. That doesn't
help her odds but doesn't make it impossible either. This is where the
argument I believe evolves from that rehabbing doesn't work and we're
messing with mother nature by assisting birds that were predisposed not
to survive but I won't even open that can of worms here. It's been a
while and I wanted to pass along the current news to you. I apologize to
James and Peter for not writing them personally about the eagle
situation but times have been crazy here lately. You've seen the madness
so I hope you understand . Thanks, Bobby

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