Three articles from the San Luis Obispo Tribune regarding our Golden Eagles:
November 10, 2007 article: "Once near death ...eagle takes off "
October 26, 2007 article: "Injured eagle will land at Zoo to You"
October 12, 2007 article: "Group lifts eagles up where they belong"
DONATIONS FOR GOLDEN EAGLES still being accepted.
A BIRD OF PREY’S FREEDOM DAY
Once near death, now full of life, eagle takes off
The female bird found two months ago was injured, mite-infested and stinky — volunteers nursed her back to health
By David Sneed
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Click Image for Larger |
Kelly Vandenheuvel, right, and Joe Miller of Pacific Wildlife Care release a golden eagle in Harmony. The golden eagle ran down a hill before taking flight.
TRIBUNE PHOTOS BY JOE JOHNSTON
A little more than two months after it was found near death
in the North Coast hamlet of Harmony, a female golden eagle
spread its wings and soared free Friday.
A handful of volunteers with the animal rescue group Pacific
Wildlife Care whooped and hollered as the eagle made a running
start down a hill behind a ranch just south of Harmony and took
flight. It glided across Highway 1 and turned north.
“It was an electrifying experience,” said Susan Belany of Cambria,
who had rescued the eagle.
The bird weighed 15.2 pounds when it was released, a little heavier
than a female eagle in the wild, said Kelly Vandenheuvel,
who rehabilitated the Harmony eagle and two others at her
Cayucos ranch this fall. The extra weight will give the bird
a head start as it readjusts to the demands of life in the wild.
The eagle was briefly disoriented by its freedom. Vandenheuvel took the lid off the bird’s carrying cage and the eagle flapped a few feet away and hunkered down in the grass. This happened several times before Vandenheuvel herded the bird downhill.
“She could feel the wind and just kept going,” Belany said.
The healthy eagle was a stark contrast to the bird Belany found Aug. 26 lying by the side of the road with its feet sticking in the air. She thought the bird was dead, but when she approached it, she noticed that it was breathing.
A volunteer with Pacific Wildlife Care, Belany had gloves, blankets, a carrying case and other rescue equipment in her car. She bundled up the eagle, and the long process of rehabilitation began.
Rescuers theorize that the eagle had been hit by a car. In its weakened state, it became infested by mites and sprayed by a skunk. Veterinarians Steven Paulick of Arroyo Grande and David Edsall of Atascadero helped nurse it back to health.
Vandenheuvel had considered giving the eagle a soft release, which entails opening the flight cage in Cayucos and letting the bird readjust to life in the wild. But this eagle is a mature adult, old enough to have established its own territory around Harmony.
“It’s always best to release them back into their own territory,” Vandenheuvel said.
The Golden Eagle a very sacred bird to me. THANKS to all of the humans who cared and nursed this magnificent bird back to health. She was very fortunate to have been given the chance to live and thrive to the point she could be released back to her natural habitat. It makes my heart very happy to see her healthy enough to regain her freedom.
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Injured eagle will land at Zoo to You
Pacific Wildlife Care rehabilitates the bird and finds it a home after it was found with eye and brain damage at Santa Margarita Lake
By David Sneed
Volunteers with Pacific Wildlife Care report that they have found a permanent home for a visually impaired golden eagle they have been rehabilitating for several months.
Zoo to You, a conservation educational organization based in Paso Robles, will pick up the bird today.
It will be used in the group's educational outreach programs, said Kelly Vandenheuvel, who has been caring for the eagle at her Cayucos ranch.
The female eagle was found near Santa Margarita Lake. It had flown into something hard enough to detach its retina and cause brain damage.
The eagle is one of three the group has been rehabilitating since August. One has already been release, and another is scheduled for release in several weeks, pending a veterinarian's approval.
Since a story about the eagles appeared in The Tribune on Oct. 12, the wildlife rehabilitation group has received $1,200 in donations to help feed the eagles, Vandenheuvel said. It costs as much as $15 a day to purchase the mice and rates that each eagle eats.
"We spent more on raptor food this year than we ever have before in previous years," she said, "so these donations will help to pay for some of that expense."
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INJURED EAGLES REHAB IN CAYUCOS
Group lifts eagles up where they belong
Pacific Wildlife Care recently had an unprecedented three golden eagles to rehabilitate; one’s already back in the wild
By David Sneed
Normally, it’s a rare event when someone brings a golden eagle to Pacific Wildlife Care for rehabilitation. But in recent weeks, volunteers with the group have had three of the majestic birds in their care.
The birds—two females and a male — were injured in separate, unrelated incidents. One was shot, another was likely hit by a car and the third slammed into something so hard its retina was detached, an injury that will prevent it from ever being released back into the wild.
“To have three eagles at one time has never happened in the 25 years I’ve been involved with the organization,” said Kelly Vandenheuvel, who is rehabilitating the eagles in a flight cage at her Cayucos ranch. “Typically, we get one eagle every five years.”
Earlier this week, the group released one of the eagles near Adelaida. Its wing had been grazed by a .22-caliber bullet.
But the other two are still in captivity.
The eagles are putting a considerable financial strain on the nonprofit group. It costs between $10 and $15 per bird per day to buy the rats and mice that are fed to them.
Dani Nicholson, Pacific Wildlife Care president, estimates that the group will spend $10,000 on raptor food this year.
Vandenheuvel hopes to release a second eagle in a couple of weeks. That bird was found Aug. 23 lying on the ground near Harmony with its legs in the air.
It was heavily infested with scaly leg mites and was near death. Nicholson suspects the eagle was hit by a car. To add insult to injury, it was also sprayed by a skunk.
The Harmony eagle is gradually regaining its strength by flapping from perch to perch in the flight cage. The Audubon Society will attach a band to the bird before its release so it can be identified in the future.
Vandenheuvel is planning what animal rescuers call a soft release. She will open a gate in the flight pen, allowing the eagle to fly away when it wants to and return to eat if it needs to.
That leaves the visually impaired eagle. Veterinarians have said it could never survive in the wild.
The otherwise healthy eagle would make an excellent educational bird. The volunteers are searching nationwide for a zoo or wildlife conservation facility willing to take it.
Until that happens, the eagle will stay in Vandenheuvel’s flight cage.
To find out more about Pacific Wildlife Care or to donate money to help feed the eagles, go to the group’s Web site at www.pacificwildlifecare.org.
All the Golden Eagle articles :
November 10, 2007 article: "Once near death ...eagle takes off"
October 26, 2007 article: "Injured eagle will land at Zoo to You"
October 12, 2007 article: "Group lifts eagles up where they belong"
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