nice big female

okay sweetie we got you

oh make me work for that one

let me pull this down so you guys can see her

see this that's her crop big as a softball

all full

so we'll see what we can do to put her someplace safe

that is just huge you she really..

Woman: i read that when i was looking what to do but she may have made have eaten too much

Martin: and she did she ate too much

Susan: we're grateful that's all it is

Martin: you know if i can if i can physically run him down and catch him, she's either injured or she's had so much food she can't fly

yeah i'm gonna go put her over there under that big juniper in fact maybe the second big juniper look further out

Woman: anywhere you feel

Martin: and just just let her be in the shade and by morning all this will be digested and she should be flying just fine

You don't have to come home with me, no you really don't, you get to stay here

Okay okay babe, thank you for being healthy I can't tell you how much I appreciate that, I really really do. I'm up to my eyeballs in eagles and I don't need any more.

I want you to relax, stay cool.

Okay sweetie, there's my girl, go find a cool spot

[sounds from the highway]
Susan:

I'll get the net

Susan: thank you

Woman: It's beautiful, on my god, it's beautiful!

Martin: It's a she

Woman: oh my god

Martin: and it's an adult

Man: okay

Susan: Is there anything wrong?

Martin: She's got a big crop full of breakfast , I'm hoping that's it. 
If that's it she'll get turned back loose tomorrow.

Susan: She would have... it's an adult ...

Man: You think she's just full? I mean there's no injury that you can tell?

Martin: At this moment I can't see an injury. I'll know more when I get back and check her out closely.

Man: How could she not fly though even being that full?

Martin: They, they uh... Old wives tales... eagles who can swoop down and carry off sheep, cows, and children: NO!

An eagle's capable of carrying about a third of its body weight into flight, which basically means this eagle carry about two, two and a half pounds.

If she's got two pounds of food she has a real hard time getting off the ground.

Adult golden eagle, female, guys look at those feet!

You know, no wonder they are an apex predator, what they call a lion of the sky, those feet are magnificent

and that's what she, that's what she, kills with so that's what we have to be very very careful of

and like i said we gave her a complete physical last night

and we could find absolutely nothing wrong with her

now right here this is the there's actually still food right here

a little bit not as much, this was just bulging, about the size of a grapefruit

so she had a really really big dinner last night

and uh and because of that now i always want make this point and it's extremely important,

eagles are large

eagles are very heavy

eagles are very slow to get off the ground

and if they've had a large meal like she did sometimes i'll eat so much food they can't even fly

and that's kind of the situation that she was in, and because of that

when we see birds on the highway and don't just assume they can fly away

and the number one injury to eagles here in Utah is eagles being hit by cars,

and she was certainly in a situation where that could have been the case,

but fortunately she was not, and so when you see birds on the highway, slow down,

sometimes you have to come to a stop and let them walk off the road because they've had too much dinner or too much breakfast

...and that's what Scout was, the farmer thought Scout was a threat to his livestock,

and wanted the eagle removed

and so I was called in to do this...

...here comes Scout and he perches up on a power pole

and he's looking down at the dead rabbits

and he finally decides to glide down to to the trap

now I'm not going to go into trapping because that's very much illegal without the proper permits

But I will tell you this much...
  
the trap I use gently ensnares his feet and we never ever stake the trap to the ground

because if you stake the trap to the ground and he pulled against it that could injure him

and so he put a weight on the trap so he can drag the weight around, but he cannot fly

and the drag weight that I used was two and a half pounds

with a two and a half pound dragweight this eagle could not get off the ground

now for all of you folks out there that watch these youtube videos where eagles were swooping down

carrying, you know, carrying off children, and carrying off dogs

and carrying off goats and mountain goats and sheep and cows or lord knows what

the the truth of the matter is that's that's impossible

you know here's a full-grown wild eagle that could not get himself into the air with a weight of two and a half pounds

so they're capable of carrying approximately one-third of their body weight into flight

and so that's all that they can do

as we're coming back, and again, driving through the agricultural areas, out in the middle of nowhere,

a small bird raced across the highway

a lot of people will panic and slam on their brakes

and that could be an incredibly dangerous situation

and so driving carefully and and being attentive and staying off your phones

and distractions and those kinds of things that's so very very important

even even when you're out in the most rural areas