WILDLIFE CENTER OF VIRGINIA TO RELEASE BALD EAGLE MONDAY SEPTEMBER 4 (LABOR DAY)

Bird, Treated At Wildlife Center, Will Be Released Near Port Conway in King George County

The Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation's leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife, will release a juvenile Bald Eagle on Monday, September 4 at 1:00 p.m. at the Land's End Wildlife Management Area, near Port Conway in King George County, Virginia.

Participating in the release will be Ed Clark, President and co-founder of the Center.

The juvenile Bald Eagle was found on the ground near the King George-Westmoreland County line. The bird was first taken to local wildlife rehabilitator Diana O'Connor and was admitted to the Wildlife Center on August 7. When admitted, the eagle was unable to fly; while it was dehydrated and had lice, tests indicated no broken bones, and the bird's bloodwork was normal. Since its admission, the bird has eaten well and has steadily gained weight. It was spent time in the Center's 60-foot flight pen and seems able to fly well.

It is estimated that the bald eagle population of North America numbered about half a million before European settlement. With the loss of habitat, hunting, and the effects of DDT and other pesticides, the U.S. eagle population plummeted. In 1977, for example, there were fewer than 50 bald eagle nests in Virginia.

Today, the bald eagle population in Virginia is on the rebound. There are now more than 400 active bald eagle nests in the Commonwealth. While the eagle population in Virginia is concentrated along the Chesapeake Bay and its tidal tributaries, the Bald Eagle population appears to be expanding inland.

Every year, nearly 3,000 animals - ranging from bald eagles to chipmunks - are brought to the Wildlife Center for care. "The goal of the Center is to restore our patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild," Clark said. "At the Wildlife Center, we treat to release."

The Wildlife Center of Virginia is an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine. Since its founding in 1982, the non-profit Center has cared for more than 45,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. The Center's public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife. The Center trains veterinary and conservation professionals from all over the world and is actively involved in comprehensive wildlife health studies and the surveillance of emerging diseases. Additional information about the Wildlife Center is available at www.wildlifecenter.org.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries Land's End Wildlife Management Area, a 430-acre site, is situated on the Nanzatico Bay of the Rappahannock River. The Area lays claim to hosting the densest bald-eagle breeding population in the lower 48 states.