BANGOR TWP, MI — Earlier this summer, an American bald eagle was found bleeding from multiple pellet wounds from its perch in a Bay County tree. Rescued, fittingly, on July 4, the bird is now mending from its wounds and learning to fly again.
Meanwhile, investigators are offering a four-figure reward to hopefully identify the bird’s assailant, as the shooting of the iconic species is a federal crime.
CrimeStoppers on the afternoon of Tuesday, Aug. 10, hosted a press conference regarding the shooting and the bird’s progress at the Bangor Township Hall.
“Since this is a federal crime, CrimeStoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for any information … that helps lead to an arrest in this situation,” said Julie Lopez, CrimeStoppers’ regional director. The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act prohibits shooting such species, with the first offense being a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year’s incarceration and a $100,000 fine. A second offense is punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Patricia “Pat” Huddy, of Hampton Township-based nonprofit Wildlife Support Team, said she responded to a report of a large, juvenile eagle perched high in a tree on Revilo Drive in Bangor Township on July 1. The bird was bleeding profusely, she said.
“We could not catch her because she was up in the tree, so we had to wait until she came down, which was four days later and we were able to catch her on the Fourth of July,” Huddy said. Helping Huddy catch the eagle was Ruth Fruehauf, director of Saint Helen-based Association to Rescue Kritters (or A.R.K.), a wildlife rehabilitation center staffed entirely by volunteers and funded via donations.
Fruehauf took the eagle to A.R.K. for the first night and bandaged its wounded wing. The next day, she took it to see veterinarian Dr. Brian Dawson of South Shore Animal Hospital in Houghton Lake who administered X-rays to the animal. The bird was later transferred to the care of veterinarian Dr. Mary Isaac.
The eagle had been shot four times with a pellet gun. One of the pellets pierced the bird’s wings in two places, breaking its bone at the wrist. The eagle had been shot while perched and not in flight.
Initially, Isaac hoped to repair the eagle’s injured wing with surgery, she said. That proved unviable, she said.
“Ruth did a bang-up job with her wing rap,” Isaac said. “We do that quite often to immobilize these wings when we can’t repair them otherwise. We rewrapped it, made sure she had a good range of motion and everything [and] the bird did well. We decided to just kind of let her continue to heal and see how she would do.”
Since then, the eagle has been moved to a large flight cage owned by the Wildlife Support Team.
“She has been slowly getting a little more motion, a little bit more ability to fly,” Isaac said. “We still don’t know quite yet if she’s going to be completely releasable, but it is looking pretty good at this point in time.”
Sandra “Sandy” Miner, rehabilitation specialist with the Wildlife Support Team, said the cage the eagle is currently in is about 300 feet under net.
“It’s one of the biggest, if not the biggest, cages in Michigan,” Miner said. Huddy added the eagle can now fly the length of the cage but doesn’t fly higher than about 3 feet.
This is not the only area eagle to have potentially been harmed at human hands this summer. On Aug. 5, another bald eagle was found in Tuscola County’s Jonesfield Township with a large hole in one of its wings, Miner said.
“I don’t know if this was a bullet hole, but I certainly hope not,” Miner said.
The female eagle, estimated to be about 3 years old due to its whitening head feathers, had maggots in its wound. Despite Miner’s best efforts, this Tuscola County eagle died on Aug. 6. Its remains are to undergo a necropsy — the animal equivalent of an autopsy — to determine if it was indeed shot.
“I’d cleaned her up, I’d cleaned the maggots out, I fed her a few small mice and she did eat … but she’d been down a long time and the infection just had too much going on her,” Miner said. “It’s a tragedy.”
Regarding the Bay County eagle, Isaac said it is a lucky bird, all things considered.
“This bird, so far, has had a pretty good outcome,” Isaac said. “I do think a lot of that is really due to the really good triage she had initially. Our hope, as time goes on, is she can build a little bit more strength. We can maybe do a little bit more rehabilitation and see if we can get her active enough to be able to fend for herself on her own.”
Fruehauf added that even though the eagle is a juvenile, with its head feathers still brown, it is still a large bird.
“There is an awful lot of weight and an awful lot of strength involved, even when they’re down, but just trying to motivate that body with the strength it takes to get it airborne is amazing, considering what it’s working with,” Fruehauf said. “The fact that she’s flying is awesome and amazing. We’re very, very fortunate that she’s come that far.”
Those with information that may help investigators identify the eagle’s shooter can submit tips to CrimeStoppers by calling 1-800-422-5245 or using the P3 mobile app, P3Tips.com/488. The tips can be provided anonymously.
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