Rescued eaglet has an uncertain future
One of two eaglets rescued Sunday from a fallen nest along the Fish Lake Road isn’t doing well, says the director of animal care for the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.
One of two eaglets rescued Sunday from a fallen nest along the Fish Lake Road isn’t doing well, says the director of animal care for the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.
Maria Hallock said this morning the recently hatched bald eagle suffered multiple fractures to one of its wings during the fall.
Surgery was conducted at a local veterinarian clinic Monday, but the wing was severely damaged and it’s 100 per cent certain the bird will never fly, she said.
Hallock said it’s also quite likely the eaglet will lose the ability to even lift the wing as it matures, raising the question of whether the bird should be euthanized.
If the bird isn’t able to lift its wing in the future, the wing would have to be amputated, seriously impacting the bird’s quality of life, she said.
“We have an animal care committee meeting tomorrow and we will discuss that and make a decision,” Hallock said of the whether the bird will be euthanized.
“Yesterday, we were still hoping we might be able to fix that bone and make repairs so that he might have a chance, but right now it does not look good.
“... Unfortunately, in this case, it may not be a happy ending, but the other one is doing well. He is eating, and he’s chirping.”
Hallock said the healthy eaglet has been separated from its sibling and will be moved into the large flying pen, which is the permanent home of mature bald eagle.
The mature bird isn’t able to fly, but is mild-mannered and will be good company for the healthy eaglet, she said.
Hallock said it seems for some reason, they are always getting rescued eaglets from the pair of eagles that nest in the Fish Lake Road area.
The eaglets were rescued Sunday by eagle enthusiasts and photographers Gerry Mussgnug and Ron Dionne, along with conservation officer Tynan Thurmer of Environment Yukon.
Mussgnug said he received a phone call on Saturday night from another wildlife photographer telling him the nest behind the Icy Waters fish farm had fallen down, likely in the last couple of days.
Mussgnug and Dionne found the eaglets and contacted Thurmer, who travelled to the site to assist with the recovery and transport the birds to the wildlife preserve.
Comments (3)
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jc on Jun 14, 2016 at 9:39 pm
Will this be called "assisted dying". Maybe the little eaglet would like a chance at life.
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Josey Wales on Jun 14, 2016 at 6:49 pm
Gee I mean not to be "the"stick in the mud, buuuut!
Perhaps do an article on say...I dunno, oh hey!
How the folks who were mowed down in our insane free for all traffic lately are getting along?
Are they healing well, have they experienced any cancellation of surgeries at WGH, do they have the financial support they need, do they need help?
I am being completely serious. Really a story on baby eaglets and how they are doing since their nest fell?
No freaking wonder our community is now compost, really!
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DoctoredDoolittle on Jun 14, 2016 at 5:25 pm
I sense another Wildlife Preserve Fund-raiser in the offing ; "$100,000 urgently needed to rehabilitate the orphaned eaglet". I found a squirrel with a limp the other day - that one should be good for a cool 50K . After all, the YWP only gets $700,000 a year to keep the critters upbeat . Every little helps folks .