The Wildlife Center of Virginia, a leading teaching and research hospital for native wildlife, will release a Bald Eagle on Tuesday, February 24 at 12:30 p.m. at Chippokes Plantation State Park in Surry County.
The release is free and open to the public. Please meet at the Visitor Center of the Park [address is 695 Chippokes Park Road, Surry VA 23883]. Individuals who wish to attend the eagle release are asked to RSVP to the Center at [email protected].
Participating in the release will be Ed Clark, President and Co-Founder of the Wildlife Center, and several individuals who helped in the rescue of this eagle.
The Bald Eagle to be released on Tuesday – a young adult – was found by a group of hunters, down in the woods, in Surry County on December 20. The hunters called for help and stayed with the eagle until rehabilitator Dana Lusher responded and captured the bird. The eagle was taken to a local veterinarian for stabilization and transported to the Wildlife Center in Waynesboro the following day.
Admitted as Patient #14-2406 [the 2,406th patient of 2014], the eagle received a complete physical examination, including radiographs and blood work. The Center’s veterinary staff found two large puncture wounds – one on the eagle’s right shoulder, the second on the left side of its chest – injuries consistent with a fight with another eagle. The eagle’s wounds were cleaned and sutured closed; the bird was started on a course of anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, and pain medications. A complete case history is available on the Center’s website, at: http://wildlifecenter.org/critter-corner/current-patients/bald-eagle-14-2406.
The eagle’s wounds healed well and, on December 26, the eagle was moved to one of the Center’s outdoor pens for further recovery and rehabilitation. Center veterinary and rehabilitation staff have been exercising the eagle for several weeks; they have determined that the eagle is able to fly well and is ready to be returned to the wild.
Tuesday’s event is the first release of a Bald Eagle during 2015 by the Center. During 2014, the Center released a record 11 Bald Eagles, including three eagles equipped with GPS transmitters. Those eagles are currently reporting in from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and South Carolina. [Additional information on eagle tracking may be found at http://wildlifecenter.org/critter-corner/success-stories.]
It is estimated that the Bald Eagle population of North America numbered about half a million before European settlement. With the loss of habitat, hunting, and the effects of DDT and other pesticides, the U.S. eagle population plummeted. In 1977, for example, there were fewer than 50 Bald Eagle nests in Virginia.
Today, the Bald Eagle population in Virginia is on the rebound. There are now more than 1,000 active Bald Eagle nests in the Commonwealth.
Since its founding in 1982, the Wildlife Center has treated scores of Bald Eagles, done extensive studies of environmental factors that affect eagles and other wildlife, and worked to reform laws and regulations to strengthen the protection afforded to Bald Eagles.
Every year, about 2,400 animals – ranging from Bald Eagles to Black Bear cubs to hummingbirds and chipmunks – are brought to the Wildlife Center for care. The goal of the Center is “to treat to release” – to restore patients to health and return as many as possible to the wild.
The Wildlife Center of Virginia is an internationally acclaimed teaching and research hospital for wildlife and conservation medicine. Since its founding in 1982, the nonprofit Center has cared for more than 65,000 wild animals, representing 200 species of native birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. The Center’s public education programs share insights gained through the care of injured and orphaned wildlife, in hopes of reducing human damage to wildlife.
In July 2011, the Center launched Critter Cam, which allows wildlife enthusiasts around the world to watch a variety of Center patients, including the eagle to be released on Tuesday. Patients that are currently “featured” on one of the three Critter Cam feeds, in addition to Bald Eagle #14-2406, are a Black Vulture, an Eastern Screech-owl, and three Wildlife Center permanent residents – Buddy, a Bald Eagle; Maggie, a Peregrine Falcon; and Grayson, a Broad-winged Hawk. A link to Critter Cam can be found at www.wildlifecenter.org.
Chippokes Plantation State Park is a 1,947-acre park on the south shore of the James River, just across from Jamestown. Chippokes has been a working farm since 1619; the park today includes a variety of wildlife habitats – tidal marshes and sloughs, stands of loblolly pine, mixed hard forest, and bald cypress swamp. Chippokes is administered by the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation; additional information about the Park is available at:
http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/chippokes-plantation.shtml#general_information
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