Hopes are high that a bald eagle will recover from its injuries after being rescued Monday along the Baltimore-Washington Parkway.
The injured eagle is in the hands of a veterinary surgeon after being rescued by a volunteer with the Owl Moon Raptor Center in Boyds, Maryland.
“It was sitting on the side of the road and it was not moving … people were passing by in their vehicles and they couldn’t stop and … they saw it on the side of the road,” said Suzanne Shoemaker, executive director of the Owl Moon Raptor Center. “It was even marked on WAZE as a road kill and it wasn’t dead.”
Yesterday, a District 4 officer responded to an injured Bald Eagle in the wooded area along the Baltimore-Washington Pkwy. The officer worked with the Owl Moon Raptor Center to rescue this iconic bird. The Bald Eagle is now receiving great care and is expected to recover. pic.twitter.com/svDxlbwVGy
— USPPNEWS (@usparkpolicepio) November 28, 2023
The eagle was apparently strong and healthy before being struck by a vehicle Monday morning.
“It’s an adult male, very beautiful feather condition, body condition, everything was perfect about it except it had a very badly broken leg and some internal injury,” Shoemaker said.
One of the group’s Anne Arundel-based volunteers headed to the scene with her capture equipment and a carrier. With the support of U.S. Park Police, the volunteer collected the injured bird and transported it to the facility in Boyds.
Because X-rays revealed that the bird’s leg break is in the mid-shaft, the veterinary surgeon believed there was a chance of a successful repair. But surgery was put off until the extent of the bird’s internal injuries could be assessed.
“We’re hopeful, keeping fingers crossed,” Shoemaker said.
The bird rescue facility has more than 100 volunteers who respond to calls each day to rescue hawks, owls, eagles and falcons.
The birds of prey can get caught up in a myriad of life-threatening situations and the Owl Moon Raptor Center has been rescuing them for more than 20 years.
“They get into trouble in all kinds of ways … they get entangled in fishing line, they get hit by vehicles, they fly into power lines. … There’s all kinds of hazards out there that we’ve created for them. Probably the biggest one is cars,” Shoemaker said.
