LEWISBURG, W. Va (WVVA)-- A rehabilitated bald eagle was released back into the wild in Lewisburg Tuesday morning.
A worker found her in a landfill in Lewisburg three weeks from Tuesday. He alerted the owner of the landfill, who then called Greenbrier County Animal Control to step in.
"I had to put a blanket around her just so I could pick her up and not hurt her," said Robert McKlum, the officer who responded to the call. "Animals like this, if they don't get the care they need fast, they tend to expire," he added.
The Three Rivers Avian Center took over caring for the eagle. They had her for 19 days while she was healing.
The zinc levels in her blood were very high, which according to the avian center officials often are indicative of an animal that has been eating poisoned rats and mice.
"It took a lot of nursing, but she's been turning around nicely," said Wendy Perrone, Executive Director of the center. "She's now up and at' em and ready to go."
It's a big deal for this area, she said. "It's very special," Perrone commented. "It's not every day you work with a bald eagle. It's a chance to work with a vital piece of ecology and get it back out doing its job again."
Although it's bittersweet to see the animal go back into the wild, Perrone knows this is how it's meant to be.
"It's joyous, it's... It's like the best thing ever," said Perrone. "Everything worked right for this gal."
Perrone also warned WVVA about the dangers of using rat poison and other rodent killers, especially in rural areas like Greenbrier County. "We would like to remind everybody, when you put poison out the rodents don't just die around the traps. They may hide in the weeds or something and some predator may think that's an easy meal. In this case, it went into a bald eagle," she said.
A history of the bird's case at the avian center, as well as photos of the bird, can be found on the Three Rivers Avian Center Facebook page.
"The Lady" at the time of her rescue. Photo courtesy of the Three Rivers Avian Center.
