3:06pm: Hotline with Dave Weekley

Trapped eagle in Pocahontas County saved by a string of concerned individuals

HILLSBORO,W.Va. — The acting Superintendent of Droop Mountain State Park in Pocahontas County was headed out for what he thought would be a quick run up to Watoga State Park on work related business in mid-February. Turned out the trip would turn into a substantial detour for Greg Shafer.

“I was flagged down by a citizen in the town of Hillsboro and they told me there was an eagle down by Denmar State Prison caught in a steel trap,” he explained.

Shafer changed course and headed down to the prison. Initially, it took some time to find the bird, but once he got there, the commotion was clear.

“She did not look well. She was just laying out in the middle of the field next to the yard. She looked like she was dead, but every time I walked in front of her, she moved her head,” he said.

Shafer got in touch with the Natural Resources Police to make sure it was okay to try and capture the eagle so they could remove the trap and get medical attention. Once that permission was secured he suggested one of the Corrections Officers get a box and a blanket from the prison dispensary. Together, they tried to figure out how to catch a wounded eagle.

“We were just kind of making it up as we went,” he laughed. “She sort of knew what was up and tried to get up but she couldn’t move. I stood in front of her and distracted her while he came up behind her and threw the blanket over her. We both jumped on and wrestled her until we got her secure.”

The bird put up as much fight as she could until Shafer started to work on the trap.

“When I touched that trap she calmed down, but she had one of her talons hung in between the jaws so it took two of us to get it off,” Shaffer said.

Natural Resources Police Officer Jeff Craig investigated the incident and said it appeared the bird had gotten into the trap in some other location.

“Most of the time when these things occur, it’s somebody trying to catch coyotes with deer carcass. The law says you have to have the trap 50 feet away, but this was done illegally,” Craig explained.

He theorized when the trap owner saw an eagle, and realized they were going to face big trouble, they simply cut the anchor and the eagle took off.

“It’s hard to say how far she had flown with the trap on her leg. She got to the prison and she was just exhausted,” said Craig.

Trappers are required to place an identification tag on their traps, but if this trap had one it was still on the chain or cable back at the site where the eagle got into it. The situation made it hopeless for Craig to determine who was responsible.

Shaffer hauled the bird north to meet Craig and handed off the box with the precious cargo. Craig hauled her to raptor specialist Joe Santiogo at the U.S. Forest Service in Elkins. Once stabilized, the bird was taken on to the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia in Morgantown. The eagle has been there ever since in the care of veterinarian Dr. Jessie Falon.

“The bird is improving and the leg caught in the trap is improving. It is stable and out of the woods of anything life threatening, but still has some pretty significant neurological deficits on that trapped foot.” Falon said.

Complicating the bird’s recovery is the worst injury was to the hallux digit one, or the back toe. It’s the toe most critical for an eagle to perch or capture prey. According to Fallon, the significance of the injury and location make the prognosis for being released back into the wild very guarded.

“There’s not a lot of soft tissue around that entrapped foot which was probably trapped several days and caused some damage. Sometimes that could take weeks or months to improve, so we’ll have to wait and see. However, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that hallux digit one has to be functional or the bird cannot be released.” he explained.

It’s the fourth bald eagle in recent months to be brought into the facility which is operated as a non-profit arm of Cheat Lake Animal Clinic. One of the eagles had suffered lead poisoning and died. Another had a gunshot wound, but is on the mend. The other had been hit by a car and is also recovering.

When eagles recover, but cannot fend for themselves in the wild they are placed into educational facilities to live out their days. One of the largest in the country which takes a lot of them is run by Dollywood in Tennessee.

The fate of the Denmar Prison eagle remains unknown, but thanks to the quick thinking and effort of a long string of individuals, it appears she will survive the ordeal.





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