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Adolescent bald eagle escorted from Kinzua Wolf Run Marina by Game Commission to rehab center for treatment of exhaustion and food deprivation
By RYAN FIRKEL
Era Reporter
WARREN — An adolescent bald eagle on Monday was escorted from the Kinzua Wolf Run Marina by the Pennsylvania Game Commission to a rehabilitation center in Sagertown, where it was treated for exhaustion and food deprivation.
The eagle was found by a man while paddling his canoe near Sugar Bay located on the Allegheny Reservoir. The man, who was not identified, heard the wounded bird, approached it on the shore and corralled it in a life jacket. Once the bird was in the boat, he paddled nearly two miles to the marina, where the authorities were contacted, according to Bob Hennessy, owner of the Kinzua Wolf-Run Marina.
Upon arrival around 1:30 p.m., the bird remained docile and was moved from the life jacket to a cardboard box. Although withered, the bird weighed approximately 12 to 15 pounds and its wingspan stretched to nearly six feet, said Hennessy.
“Just by looking at the eagle, there was nothing cosmetically wrong,” said Hennessy. “Just before the Game Commission got to the marina the bird was pretty attentive.”
The bird was acquired and transported by the Game Commission around 3:45 p.m. and was transported by three vehicles to the Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Sagertown.
The Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation Center received the bird by 5:30 p.m., where Suzanne B. DeArment, licensed wildlife rehabilitator, examined the bird. The primary examinations led DeArment to believe the bird was undernourished and fatigued, with a pained left ankle.
“It is very thin,” said DeArment. “Around this time, eagles of this age are learning to hunt. Eagles, when they learn how to fish, they don’t enter the water. This bird must have entered the water and exerted itself getting to shore.”
The bird did not seem to be in any critical condition upon arrival but it will be fully diagnosed and rehabilitated at Tamarack. Following rehabilitation the bird will be released back near the place of rescue within the next couple of weeks, said DeArment.
The eagle rescue comes on the heels of a recent successful surge in the population and nesting of bald and golden eagles throughout Pennsylvania.
This spring, the Game Commission recorded record nesting numbers with 120 known nests in 42 Pennsylvania counties. As recently as 1983, there were only three remaining eagle nests in the state.
Currently, the Game Commission classifies the bald eagle as a threatened species in Pennsylvania. Due to successful nesting numbers and Game Commission reintroduction, eagles are no longer protected by the federal Endangered Species Act. Both bald and golden eagles remain under federal protection — the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act — safeguarding the birds and nests from disturbances and destruction.
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