PATIENT:  Bald Eagle, #11-1965

LOCATION OF RESCUE:  Shenandoah County, Virginia

CIRCUMSTANCE OF ADMISSION:   Injured in a fight with another Bald Eagle

ADMISSION DATE:  August 10, 2011

OUTCOME:  Euthanized August 12, 2011

On August 10, a fisherman was out on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River near Woodstock, and witnessed a dramatic mid-air eagle fight.   Both eagles tumbled to the ground.  While one of the eagles shook itself off and flew away, the other bird fell into the river.   The fisherman called the local sheriff’s office, and Deputy Steve Bowers responded to the scene.  He was able to rescue the gravely injured eagle, likely a fourth-year bird, from the river.  Deputy Bowers contacted the Wildlife Center, and two local Center volunteers quickly transported the bird to the Center.  

Upon arrival, Dr. Miranda examined the injured eagle.  It wasn’t difficult to discern what the problem was — the eagle had an open fracture of its left wing — a severe injury.  When the eagle was removed from the crate, it managed to talon its injured, dangling wing — and created more puncture wounds.

Dr. Miranda began stabilizing the wound while preparing the eagle for radiographs.  Both the ulna and radius were fractured, though the fractures are far enough from the joint that a surgical repair may be possible.  At this point, the primary concern is that the artery supplying the blood to the end of the bird’s wing may have been damaged.  The veterinary team will be regularly checking the temperature of the wing — a wing that feels below body temperature indicates the absence of a viable blood supply, which means the wing that cannot be repaired.

After taking radiographs, Dr. Miranda was able to align the broken, exposed bones and sutured the open wound closed.  This will help prevent infection and will keep the bone as healthy as possible while the veterinary team determines if the wing is viable — a process that will take 24-48 hours.  Dr. Miranda bandaged the wing carefully and started the eagle on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, pain medication, and fluids.   The eagle was settled into a large crate for the night.

On the morning of August 11, the eagle was still alive — though it was lying down in its crate.  When the veterinary team pulled the eagle out for morning treatments, Dr. Miranda was encouraged to feel that the tip of the eagle’s wing was still warm — a good indication that the artery may still intact and functioning.  At this point, if the wing feels the same tomorrow morning [August 12], Dr. Miranda will take the Bald Eagle to surgery to repair the fractured wing bones.

While the bird was awake, Dr. Miranda performed an in-depth ophthalmic examination.  She found a small amount of hemorrhaging in the bird’s left eye — likely from impact after the bird fell out of the sky.  She also saw something odd in the bird’s eye  – an injury that at this point, she’s not quite sure how to classify.  Dr. Pickett, a board-certified ophthalmologist at Virginia Tech, will be consulted.

August 12 update

Bald Eagle #11-1965 was lying down in the crate this morning when the veterinary team checked on the bird.  The end of the bird’s wing felt mostly warm to the touch — though there was also a cooler area as well.  Dr. Miranda decided to proceed with surgery – a closer look would definitely be needed.  

Drs. Miranda and Adam prepped the bird and scrubbed in.  When Dr. Miranda removed the sutures that were protecting the open fracture and began inspecting the fracture site closely, she was troubled to find that the ends of the broken bones did not look like fresh healthy bone.  Using a special surgical tool, she began filing back one end of the broken bone — in hopes that by trimming away the dead part, the nice fresh healthy part of the bone would be revealed.  

Dr. Miranda trimmed away one centimeter of dead bone — and then Dr. Adam took a turn and began filing at the other end of the bone.  After a total of three centimeters of bone were removed, they knew that a surgical repair would not be possible.  The general rule of thumb in these cases is that 15 percent of the bone may be removed — anything more than that will affect the bird’s ability to fly.  Because 15 percent was removed in this case, and the vets were still encountering non-viable bone, they humanely euthanized the eagle while it was still under anesthesia. 

Your special donation will help the Center to provide state-of-the-art medical care to this Bald Eagle … and to the 2,300+ other patients the Center will admit this year.  Please help!