An eaglet hatched at the Norfolk Botanical Garden in April 2008 created a worldwide following through its on-line appearances on “Eagle Cam”.   The young bird was admitted as a patient in May 2008 to the Wildlife Center of Virginia, an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine.  Known to the WCV staff as #08-0887, this young eagle was diagnosed with avian pox–a widespread viral disease in birds.

In August 2009, the Wildlife Center veterinarians declared that 08-0887 was non-releasable, due to a permanently malformed beak as a result of a large avian pox lesion.  In April 2010, 08-0887 officially became “Buddy”–a name already familiar to many of his loyal fans.  The Wildlife Center also annouced that Buddy will become a member of the Center’s corps of non-releasable education animals.

Moving Day:  September 21, 2011 [Buddy moves to his new enclosure!]

Medical Updates [latest: 3/22/12]

Training Updates [latest: 5/18/12]

Learn about Buddy’s New Enclosure [September 2011]

Time-lapse video of the construction of Buddy’s enclosure [September 2011]

Buddy Open House Day 2011

Current Bald Eagle patients

Transcript from Dr. Dave McRuer’s Q&A on WVEC’s EagleCam Moderated Blog, March 8, 2011

Buddy Archives

Support the Wildlife Center’s care of Buddy