Bald Eagle Rescue

I have a strong, innate desire to befriend, tame, rescue or surround myself with animals.  I have to keep myself in check about it and I’m often failing miserably.  I still haven’t kicked out the squirrel living in my house!  My heroes have always been the animal whisperers of the world.  I was the kid who brought home every “stray” animal I met, always positive it needed a home.  My bedroom looked and sounded like a pet store.  I had Harold the Hamster, his various tunnel accessories and of course his exercise gerbil ball cruising around the floor, yellow and blue budgies flew around my room, goldfish bowls and Chinese fighting fish lined my dresser, turtles cruised in my pockets, cats lounged wherever they pleased and my best friend Tiny, a crabby little rescue dog, went everywhere with me.  It’s not surprising that I really wanted to keep the bald eagle my neighbor Billy and I rescued this winter.

I have always dreamed of being a falconer, for what reason I have no idea, but I’ve been holding off taking the course on Vancouver Island so I don’t rush out and buy a Merlin to go hunting birds with, though I will say, sparrows are pretty tasty.  It was probably a good thing that during part of the eagle’s rehabilitation, I had to leave Echo Bay to catch my yearly flight to Hawaii, though I stressed about it a lot, I knew my eagle friend was being taken good care of by Billy and our friend Scott.  I felt sure the eagle would let everyone know when she wanted to be free again, but secretly, a part of me hoped she would still be around when I returned, so we could start her training program and live out my endless visions of our life together.

The truth we often forget about, is rescuing wild animals is a lot of dedicated, hard work, especially with a fish-eating eagle.  So please, take the time to check out your local, wildlife rehab center, volunteer, bring in old towels or send a donation to help in the care of our wild neighbors.  Here are some local links: Vancouver, B.C.  Vancouver Island   Seattle, WA

For our eagle, in all our hearts, we wanted to see her fly free again and I sure wish I had been there to see her flight back to the wild.  This video is her amazing story…