Thread by @ChetPowell

Bald eagle rescue in progress. Stand by for video.

This *juvenile bald eagle, too weak to fly, was discovered at a landfill in South Georgia. It was dehydrated & underweight. I’ll post updates here.

*They don’t get the white head until their 4th or 5th year.

The person who actually caught & carried the eagle is Don Gandy, an animal control officer who went through our training course in 2014. The eagle is being transported to Dr. Larry Branch, a vet that specializes in treating raptors. I'll post more video of the evaluation process.

Following *protocol, Don places the eagle in a *cardboard box, just tall enough & wide enough for the raptor to stand with its wings folded.

*Birds will actually injure themselves even worse if they are placed in cages or kennel carriers.

Upon arrival at Quailwood Animal Hospital, the juvenile bald eagle is first physically inspected by Dr. Larry Branch, one of the most experienced raptor specialist in the southeastern U.S.

After a physical inspection, the juvenile bald eagle is X-rayed. Dr. Branch is looking for two things; broken bones and/or bullet fragments.

Luckily, Dr. Larry Branch sees no indication of either broken bones or bullet fragments in the torso or wings.😀

The next step for this juvenile bald eagle is to rehydrate it & give it some nourishment in the form of a soft paste.

WARNING: Bald eagles and other raptors (owls, hawks, osprey, etc) are federally protected. DO THIS YOURSELF & YOU’LL GO TO JAIL.

After receiving more fluids the eagle was moved to a separate building where it will be able to rest quietly, away from some of the more “talkative” canine patients... after the door is closed.

Guess who’s feeling much better? It’s more alert & able to perch.

We’ll do another update tomorrow.

Great (and to be honest, SURPRISING) news: Thanks to Dr Branch & his crew at Quailwood, this bald eagle has made a remarkable recovery. We will be releasing it later today. If you’re in the area, this will be at DNR’s Paradise Public Fishing Area at 3 PM.

For those who asked, there are two ways to make donations to support wildlife rescues; 1. Quailwood Animal Hospital, Wildlife Fund, 4024 Tift Ave. 31794
2. Wildlife Resources & Education Network @WREN911 via the website👇🏽
You can also volunteer via WREN wrencertified.org

UPDATE: We’ve delayed the bald eagle release time for 30 minutes so that we can feed it one more time. We’ll release the eagle at 3:30pm at Paradise Public Fishing Area.

The release went perfectly. They usually fly to a tree to perch immediately after being released, but this one just kept circling higher and higher. Here’s a still pic. I hope to have video later.

Here is a video of the release.