Broken Wing Repaired at Wildlife Hospital
After three months of care and rehabilitation at Ohio Wildlife Center and Ohio Bird Sanctuary, a juvenile Bald Eagle that was rescued in Licking County was released back to the wild August 12, 2020 near its nesting site in Newark.
Ohio Wildlife Center Rescue team volunteers Dave Wood and Sara Bachelor rescued the juvenile eagle on June 12th along a utility easement in Newark. A local resident on West Audrey Drive had spotted the injured bird near a backyard wood pile and contacted Ohio Wildlife Center for assistance.
The eagle was assessed at the Center’s Wildlife Hospital in Columbus and diagnosed with a broken wing, possibly caused by a collision with a car. Follow-up care provided included pain management, wing wrapping to stabilize the fracture, nutritional support, and hydration.
After hospital treatment, the eagle was transferred to the Ohio Bird Sanctuary in Mansfield to continue physical therapy for further flight recovery and muscle strengthening in its final phase of rehabilitation.
Stormy Gibson, assistant executive director of Ohio Wildlife Center, estimated the raptor’s age at between one and four years old. This was the first eagle release for the Center this year.
Robin Guinsler, the Newark resident who found the eagle in her yard, kept a watchful eye on the bird until Wood and Bachelor arrived to transport it to the Wildlife Hospital. Guinsler noted in the Newark Advocate newspaper that “I love birds and I was so excited to see him get rescued. It feels good to be a part of it, to have saved the eagle.”
Ohio Wildlife Center’s Wildlife Hospital has treated two Bald Eagles this year, three in 2019, and five Bald Eagles in 2018. Bald Eagles in Ohio have increased from a low of four nesting pairs in 1979 to 707 confirmed eagle nests in the state this year, according to the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s most recent nest census. Nests were confirmed in 85 of Ohio’s 88 counties with Ottawa County near Lake Erie having the highest at 90.
Bald Eagles were removed from the federal threatened and endangered species list in 2007, and from Ohio’s list in 2012, a result of conservation efforts throughout the United States to bring the species back from near extinction.
“The release of a majestic bird such as this Bald Eagle is the result of the efforts of many people who coordinated care for months to reach a date to send it back to the wild,” said Dusty Lombardi, executive director of the Center. “We appreciate the partnership with Ohio Bird Sanctuary in the final rehabilitation steps to make this day possible.”
“The community can count on our Wildlife Hospital to be there for wildlife in distress,” she noted. “As an essential service, our donation-supported nonprofit hospital has continuously operated during all phases of the global COVID pandemic,” she said. “Our goal is always to return animals to their natural habitats, as we are the only organization in Central Ohio that has the capacity to treat large numbers of ill and injured native Ohio Wildlife.”
