ASTORIA, Ore. - A 5-year-old Bald Eagle injured with bird shot and found on a beach near Rainier, Ore. on the Columbia River was released Saturday after being rehabbed for 6 weeks at Wildlife Center of the North Coast.
The injured female was found in Rainer near Dibblee Point Beach. X-rays revealed multiple shotgun BB’s in her head, neck, body, and both wings. One of the BB’s was near her left eye and caused her to go blind in that eye.
WCNC officials say the eagle adjusted well to her blindness and was able to negotiate the Center’s 150-foot flight cage without problems.
They say she was so wild and unhappy in captivity that she faced euthanasia. But on her release, she flew well and landed high in a Douglas fir and was promptly dive bombed and screeched at by a pair of Red Tailed Hawks “welcoming” her back into the wild.
