Golden Eagle Hit by Wind Turbine
In April we received a beautiful sub-adult male golden eagle that had been injured at the windfarm near Milford Utah. Its injuries were extensive with a severe concussion. Because of the concussion, it appeared to be blind in the right eye. It was unable to stand and we were afraid it may have had a spinal cord injury. Fortunately that was not the case.
After a week of intensive care, tube feeding fluids and medications the eagle slowly started to recover. Day by day we watched its progress from laying helplessly on its side to barely being able to stand, to walking around its chamber. Then one morning the eagle was sitting on a perch about two feet off the ground. That was a really great day.
His vision fully recovered and a couple of weeks later he started to fly to the upper perches in the flight chamber. After recovering to full health and strength I had the personal privilege to stand at the top of the mountain overlooking Cedar City and release that beautiful eagle back to the sky.
Frequently when we have an eagle ready to be returned to the wild we will seek out individuals or organizations that would like to participate in an eagle release and allow them to release the eagle back to the sky. On this occasion the organization I had contacted to participle in the eagle release did not return my phone call in a timely manner. The eagle was ready to go and as always is the case, the animal’s welfare comes first.
