Injured P.E.I. eagle ready to move to new home in Nova Scotia
When 450 was brought to the Atlantic Veterinary College Wildlife Service in October of last year the eagle was bloody, bruised, and couldn’t stand.
But now, he can fly.
It’s been a long road to recovery since that first night he was brought in.
“He had a lot of blood on his head, and also all his feathers on his head were gone,” said wildlife technician Fiep de Bie. “There were lacerations and there were some lacerations on his feet.”
A spinal injury prevented 450 from standing and forced him to try to use his wings to prop himself up.
Over 20 people took part in the surgery to fix it.
“Surgeons doing the actual procedure,” said Lara Cusack, veterinarian and head of the AVC Wildlife Service.
“We had an anaesthesiologist and their team monitoring the anaesthesia, and then we had the zoo team supervising everything to be able to highlight those differences from a bird to their more regular patients, which would be your dogs and cats and your horses and cows.”
Even afterward, it took months for the bird to be able to perch again, and all that time on the ground caused him to lose many of his feathers and develop lesions on his wings.
“He was able to perch,” said de Bie. “Then fly short distances, and very shortly after, he was flying a little longer distances, and it was all uphill from there.”
The surgery and care 450 needed to get back to this point cost thousands of dollars.
AVC Wildlife Service covers those costs through grants and donations. They’re getting a little help from the University of Prince Edward Island on this Giving Tuesday, an anonymous donor is matching up to $10,000.
“Wildlife services have no home or no owners, so they get brought here,” said Myrtle Jenkins-Smith, Department of Alumni Engagement executive director. “The increase of expenses, it’s really growing significantly.”
The money goes to help animals like 450 get back on their feet.
Four hundred fifty’s enclosure is designed to meet his capabilities. It’s about the same size as the one that’s being built for him at Hope for Wildlife in Nova Scotia.
The AVC Wildlife Service team was hopeful 450 could be released, but his long recovery left him with permanent damage to his wings.
“It'll be enough to impede him from being able to do normal behaviour in the wild, and so we’d never release an animal like that,” said Cusack. “That potentially would have long-term pain, or not be able to care for itself, because we’re just setting them up for failure.”
The team is not sure how old the bird is, but depending on his age he could live another 20 or 25 years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Orca calf that was trapped in B.C. lagoon for weeks swims free
An orca whale calf that has been stranded in a B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out on her own early Friday morning.
Trump's lawyers try to discredit testimony of prosecution's first witness in hush money trial
Donald Trump's defence team attacked the credibility Friday of the prosecution's first witness in his hush money case, seeking to discredit testimony detailing a scheme between Trump and a tabloid to bury negative stories to protect the Republican's 2016 presidential campaign.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
'I was scared': Ontario man's car repossessed after missing two repair loan payments
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Air traveller complaints to Canadian Transportation Agency hit new high
The Canadian Transportation Agency has hit a record high of more than 71,000 complaints in a backlog. The quasi-judicial regulator and tribunal tasked with settling disputes between customers and the airlines says the backlog is growing because the number of incoming complaints keeps increasing.
U.S. flight attendant indicted in attempt to record teen girl in airplane bathroom
An American Airlines flight attendant was indicted Thursday after authorities said he tried to secretly record video of a 14-year-old girl using an airplane bathroom last September.