A bald eagle, which was recently named America by the owners of For Heaven's Sake Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, stands on top of a wooden perch in a large enclosure at the Rochester animal clinic in late February.
A bald eagle, which was recently named America by the owners of For Heaven's Sake Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, stands on top of a wooden perch in a large enclosure at the Rochester animal clinic on Friday afternoon. The eagle, which was found in Winlock on Tuesday Feb. 23, has a broken wing and an aviary veterinarian wrapped the wing in hopes that would heal on its own. David Supensky, who runs For Heaven's Sake, with his wife, Claudia, expected the eagle's healing to take about a month.
With it's broken wing wrapped up, America, an injured bald eagle that was found earlier this week in Winlock, walks around a large enclosure at For Heaven's Sake Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation in Rochester on Friday afternoon.
Pieces of fish sit on a table in a large enclosure that houses an injured bald eagle at For Heaven's Sake Animal Rescue and Rehabilitation Clinic in Rochester on Friday.
A bald eagle with a broken wing is being cared for by For Heaven’s Sake Animal Rescue in Rochester.
On Tuesday, the rescue group received a call from a Winlock resident reporting that the eagle was in a field on their property and that it appeared to be injured. According to the reporting party, the bird couldn’t fly and could only propel itself off of the ground by about a foot or so.
David Supensky, who helps run For Heaven’s Sake with his wife, Claudia, set out immediately for the Winlock field in order to retrieve the stately bird and begin its recovery process. With the help of a volunteer, Supensky was able to net the eagle in some tall grass and then throw a blanket over it in order to calm it down.
On Thursday, the bald eagle was taken to an avian veterinarian in Maple Valley for an examination.
According to Supensky, the doctors there said that X-rays indicated the eagle’s wing “had been broken for awhile, so they would just tape it and then wait to see if it will eventually get good enough to fly again.”
Supensky noted that the eagle will likely have to stay at the Rochester wild animal rescue for about another month before they take it back to the vet for a round of checkups.
Supensky added that caring for bald eagles is not all that common, even for wildlife rescuers such as he and his wife.
“No, it’s not very often,” said Supensky. “We’ve probably only had three or four in the whole time we’ve been doing this.”
For Heaven’s Sake Animal Rescue is a non-profit organization registered with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. It operates exclusively off of charitable donations. More information on the rescue group can be found on their website at http://www.fhswildliferehab.org/. They also have a Facebook page and can be reached by phone at (360) 273-0550.
For now, the Supenskys are keeping their fingers crossed for the injured bald eagle in their care.
As David noted, “They wrapped it and they don’t know if it’s going to get all the way better, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
The rescue has named the bird America, or Rica for short.
