Bald eagle infected with bird flu successfully rehabbed, released back into wild
Raptor Center rehabs bald eagle with bird flu
A bald eagle is back in the wild after recovering from bird flu. FOX 13’s Jordan Bowen reports.
TAMPA, Fla. - A bald eagle infected with bird flu is back in the wild after making a full recovery.
The Raptor Center of Tampa Bay spent 59 days rehabbing the juvenile male bird until he tested negative for influenza, saving him from being euthanized.
Courtesy: Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
What we know:
A male juvenile bald eagle first got the attention of the Raptor Center of Tampa Bay back in March when eagle watchers noticed he and his sister weren't in their nest.
"What tipped us off was the birds were missing from the nest. Not that there was anything wrong with them. A storm could do that and those are a lot of the birds that we rescue are these juvenile eagles," Raptor Center of Tampa Bay President Nancy Murrah said.
Courtesy: Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
When they went searching for them, they found them in a field below their nest.
"Birds sick with avian influenza exhibit seizures and neurological symptoms and the female was exhibiting neurological symptoms. The male was not. The female was also very skinny. The male was not," Murrah said.
Courtesy: Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
The backstory:
Because of the female's symptoms, they were preparing to euthanize her, but she died before they could. Both tested positive for highly pathogenic avian influenza. However, the male was asymptomatic, so Murrah reached out to U.S. Fish and Wildlife for guidance.
"They had advised us that they would euthanize a bird because of the difficulty of dealing with isolation," Murrah said.
But Murrah says she and her team saw an opportunity to try and save this bird because, although he tested positive for bird flu, he wasn't showing any symptoms that would cause him pain.
Courtesy: Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
"For us, we had an asymptomatic bird, very bright-eyed, very active in the cage, good body weight. And like I said, had I not tested him, you wouldn't have thought he had anything wrong with him," Murrah said.
After a 33-day quarantine, Murrah says he tested negative, but just to be sure, they tested him again after a week and a half, and he was still negative. He spent the next 21 days in a 100-foot-high flight cage until he reached proper body weight to be released back into the wild.
Courtesy: Raptor Center of Tampa Bay.
"Somebody always has to be the person that's going to be willing to take the risk to do something. And, you know, clearly we were willing to take that risk because we knew that we could be extra careful with him," Murrah said.
The team of rehabbers who helped him along the way were there as he was released.
"If he nails a duck in the future, that's positive, then it shouldn't kill him. He would be immune to it and that makes a stronger population genetically for the wild," Murrah said.
The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.
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