The causes that bring Bald Eagles to the Wildlife Center are varied.  In 2006, two of our patients were brought to the Center because their nest was destroyed in a spring thunderstorm.  Another eagle was attacked by a dog; one was hit by a car, another by a train.  One eagle hit an electric line; two of our 2006 patients had ingested fish hooks.  Many eagles had old wounds of unknown causes; some birds were dehydrated, emaciated, and unable to fly.

Upon admission, each bird receives a full medical work-up by the Center's veterinarians - including a physical examination, blood and fecal tests, other lab work, and x-rays.  Occasionally, other health-care resources are brought in to help.  One young eagle admitted to the Center during 2006 was twice taken to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg for an ultrasound examination ... and then went to the Augusta Medical Center (a "human" hospital) for an after-hours MRI.

All of these tests help shape a treatment plan that is tailored for each individual eagle.  The ultimate goal of the Wildlife Center is to "treat to release" - returning our patients to the wild as functioning and healthy animals.

In some cases, particularly for young birds, the Wildlife Center provides "r-and-r" - the quiet care and feeding that can give an eagle time to regain its energy and strength.  That quiet time in a protected environment offers a "second chance" for these birds.

In other cases, treatment requires an extensive and often expensive regimen of drugs and medicines.  Center veterinarians generally treat all Bald Eagles (along with many other raptors and large shore birds) with Itraconazole, a drug which is very effective in treating and preventing lung infections that are so commonly found in these patients.  For an adult Bald Eagle, the cost of a daily dose of Itraconazole totals $14.

In other cases, treatment may require surgery - the insertion of small pins to repair a fractured bone, for example, or the implantation deep into an eagle's wing of beads impregnated with antibiotics.

And nearly all of the Center's Bald Eagle patients undergo some form of physical therapy - flight rehabilitation in one of the Center's large flight pens.  In some cases, the eagles brought to the Wildlife Center cannot be saved.  Some birds have suffered massive injuries; in other cases, the birds' injuries had occurred many days (or perhaps weeks) before the eagles were rescued and brought to the Center, and difficult-to-treat infections had set in.  Not surprisingly, the general rules of first-aid and emergency care that we know for humans apply to eagles as well - getting timely treatment is critical.

Here are the stories of some of the eagles treated at the Wildlife Center during 2006...

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