A bald eagle was shot in the beak. A care team in Missouri is hopeful it can be saved
VALLEY PARK, Missouri — A bald eagle is slowly recovering from surgery in Missouri, the victim of a shooting that experts say is far too common for America’s national bird and other birds of prey.
The male eagle was found injured in central Missouri on July 11. A World Bird Sanctuary volunteer picked him up and returned the 7-pound (3.2-kilogram) adult to the sanctuary on the outskirts of St. Louis.
Roger Holloway, the sanctuary’s director, said the eagle’s upper beak was nearly severed by the bullet. It also had a wounded left wing and was suffering from lead poisoning.
The eagle, designated No. 24-390 because it is the 390th injured bird treated at the sanctuary this year, has undergone three surgeries. Holloway said one last week was to further repair the severely damaged beak — a serious injury that could be life-threatening if it does not heal.
The good news: Stitches from previous surgeries are healing well, and so are jaw fractures caused by the force of the bullet, Holloway said. Another procedure is likely in early September.
But even if all goes well, No. 24-390 will need months, perhaps a year, of care before he can be released back into the wild.
“We’re just cautiously optimistic that he’s otherwise healthy and has gained weight, is processing food well, and that he’s becoming more aggressive and less cooperative, which we’re excited about,” Holloway said. “Because the bird is wild and has strength, and that’s what he needs to grow the beak back to its functional size and length.”
No. 24-390 is one of six raptors treated for gunshot wounds at the World Bird Sanctuary this summer. About 600 birds are treated there each year, most of them injured in various types of collisions.
Holloway and other experts say they are seeing an increase in shootings of the majestic birds, which have been the national symbol of the United States for nearly two and a half centuries. Both the bald eagle and the golden eagle are also widely considered sacred by Native Americans.
U.S. law prohibits anyone from killing, harming, or disturbing eagles, or taking their nests or eggs, without a permit. Even taking feathers found in the wild could be a crime.
In the late 1800s, there were approximately 100,000 nesting bald eagles in America. Habitat destruction and hunting nearly drove the birds to extinction, leading Congress to pass the Bald Eagle Protection Act in 1940, making it illegal to own, kill, or sell bald eagles.
Pesticides continued to kill bald eagles, and by 1960, only 400 breeding pairs remained. The bald eagle was listed as an endangered species in 1978.
Federal protection and regulation of pesticides containing DDT led to a comeback. In 1995, the bald eagle’s status was changed from threatened to endangered, and in 2007, the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list.
Eighteen years ago, Missouri had 123 confirmed bald eagle nests, said Janet Haslerig, an avian ecologist for the Missouri Department of Conservation. Now there are 609.
But as populations across the country grew, so did the number of shootings.
“It is an increasing trend and very worrying,” Haslerig said.
In March, a Washington state man was charged with kill thousands of birds has pleaded guilty in federal court to shooting eagles on an Indian reservation in Montana and sell their feathers and body parts on the black market.
Many other shootings are the result of a combination of “ignorance and boredom,” Holloway said.
“Sometimes it’s just like, ‘I have a gun. There’s a target,'” he said. “They don’t understand the laws and the rules. They don’t understand that they’re committing a crime.
“This is simply indiscriminate shooting by irresponsible individuals.”