The Wildlife Center of Virginia, the nation’s leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife, has admitted its 37th Bald Eagle of 2009, establishing a new record for eagle patients admitted in the same year.   The old record was set in 2007, when the Center admitted 36 Bald Eagles.

      The 37th Bald Eagle of 2009 was admitted to the Center on Thanksgiving Day.  The eagle was spotted by a local fisherman on Wednesday, November 25 at the Whippernock Marina on Lake Chesdin, near Sutherland in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The bird was picked up by Jessica Douglas of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, who in turn transferred it to wildlife rehabilitators Karen and Larry Fischer.  The eagle was picked up from the Fischers by Dr. Dave McRuer, the Center’s Director of Veterinary Medicine, on Thanksgiving morning and taken to the Center’s clinic in Waynesboro. 

      The eagle – an adult male – was very thin, had numerous fresh skin wounds on the top of his head, an injury to his right eye, and a fracture in his left leg that had healed.  Blood tests found perilously low levels of red-blood cells and protein.  Radiographs confirmed that the eagle had been shot; there was a shotgun pellet in the thoracic cavity and metal fragments at the fracture site on the leg.   The eagle’s condition continued to worsen, and the eagle was humanely euthanized on November 27. 

           Dr. McRuer has reported this case to the Wildlife Crime Watch operated by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.  While the Bald Eagle was “delisted” and removed from coverage of the Endangered Species Act in 2007, other statutes still protect the eagle.  The federal Bald and Golden Eagle Recovery Act of 1940, for example, provides for up to a $5,000 fine, a year in prison, or both, for killing or otherwise harming an eagle.  These penalties could double for a second offense.

           Of the Bald Eagles admitted to the Wildlife Center thus far in 2009, 35 have come from Virginia and two from West Virginia.  A tally of the 2009 Center Bald Eagle patients is attached.

           It is estimated that the Bald Eagle population of North America numbered about half a million before European settlement.  With the loss of habitat, shooting, and the effects of DDT and other pesticides, the U.S. eagle population plummeted.  In 1977, 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 600 active Bald Eagle nests in the Commonwealth. 

           Every year, about 2,500 animals – ranging from Bald Eagles to opossums to chipmunks – are brought to the Wildlife Center for care.  Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 53,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians.  The Center’s public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wild animals, 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.   

        The Bald Eagle patients admitted to the Wildlife Center during 2009 include:

1. Patient 09-0015 from Brunswick County, admitted on January 13;
2. Patient 09-0027 from Charles City County, admitted on January 17;
3. Patient 09-0028 from Suffolk City, admitted on January 18;
4. Patient 09-0031 from Highland County, admitted on January 19;
5. Patient 09-0069  from Hampshire County, West Virginia, admitted on February 5;
6. Patient 09-0076 from  Accomack County, admitted on February 8;
7. Patient 09-0095 from Chesapeake City, admitted on February 15;
8. Patient 09-0104 from Greensville County, admitted on February 17;
9. Patient 09-0143 from Williamsburg City, admitted on March 5;
10. Patient 09-0171 from Suffolk County, admitted on March 14;
11. Patient 09-0176 from Chesterfield County, admitted on March 16;
12. Patient 09-0202 from  Petersburg City, admitted on  March 27;
13. Patient 09-0298 from Prince George County, admitted on April 11;
14. Patient 09-0315 from King George County, admitted on April 13;
15. Patient 09-0396 from York County, admitted on April 25;
16. Patient 09-0440 from Williamsburg City, admitted on April 30;
17. Patient 09-0502 from Madison County, admitted on May 5;
18. Patient 09-0669 from Westmoreland County, admitted on May 16;
19. Patient 09-0675 from Pendleton County, West Virginia, admitted on May 17;
20. Patient 09-0738 from Warren County, admitted on May 20;
21. Patient 09-0766 from Essex County, admitted on May 22;
22. Patient 09-0856  from Prince William County, admitted on May 27;
23. Patient 09-1091 from Stafford County, admitted on June 9;
24. Patient 09-1148 from New Kent County, admitted on June 13;
25. Patient 09-1221 from King and Queen County, admitted on June 16;
26. Patient 09-1361 from Surry County, admitted on June 26;
27. Patient 09-1515 from Gloucester County, admitted on July 6;
28. Patient 09-1539 from Highland County, admitted on July 7;
29. Patient 09-1671 from Accomack County, admitted on July 16;
30. Patient 09-1721 from Westmoreland County, admitted on July 19;
31. Patient 09-1798 from Northampton County, admitted on July 26;
32. Patient 09-1839 from Northumberland County, admitted on July 30;
33. Patient 09-2180 from Mathews County, admitted on September 9;
34. Patient 09-2365 from Hanover County, admitted on October 10;
35. Patient 09-2388 from Mathews County, admitted on October 20;
36. Patient 09-2415 from James City County, admitted on October 27; and
37. Patient 09-2485 from Dinwiddie County, admitted on November 26.

 Animals admitted to the Wildlife Center are given sequential patient numbers – in the order in which they are admitted.  Patient #09-2485 was the 2,485th patient admitted to the Center during 2009.  To date 2,494 animals have been admitted during 2009.