Wednesday of this week, The Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida got a call from someone photographing a local eagle’s nest and they noticed that one of the Eagle chicks had a hook piercing its beak. The Wildlife Center contacted Florida Fish & Wildlife to gain permission to intervene. Bill, one of our tree climbers, scaled the tree to assist the eaglet. When he got to the top, he found the eaglet with the hook in his beak but discovered that the line was wrapped around the leg of another chick. He carefully unwrapped the line and decided to only take the chick with the hook in the beak. A few hours later, the chick was at the vet getting the hook removed and was given a clean bill of health. The very next day Bill climbed back up the tree and placed the eaglet back in the nest with its sibling. Bill did a masterful job of handling the injured bird carefully enough (Twice!!) to where its sibling was not scared out of the nest. Sixty feet off the ground with the parents circling the scene, no less! The Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida had multiple volunteers on the ground with nets in case either chick jumped during the process. Great team effort! Check out the amazing video below: The Wildlife Center of Southwest Florida survives solely on donations; please consider making a donation at https://wildlifecenterofvenice.org/donate/
Photo credits go to Paula Kaye and Mary Lundeberg.
