Injured, Recovered Baby Bald Eagle Released

Three weeks ago, a couple out exploring near La Pine found an injured baby bald eagle on the road. On Saturday, after weeks of rehab, Dr. Jeff Cooney and his assistant Jeannette Bonomo released the raptor at Crane Prairie Reservoir, before a large crowd.

They named her ‘Patriot Jr.’ and as soon as the cage opened, she took off.

She’s only 4 1/2 months old and grew from 5 to 11 pounds in just three weeks.

Veterinarians believe the baby may be related to Patriot, the injured bald eagle NewsChannel 21 has been telling you about recently, because she was found about a half-mile from where Patriot was found.

DNA and bloodwork results to see if the two are related should come back sometime next week.

In the meantime, everyone had their cameras out, taking pictures of “PJ”s” release, and said it was a wonderful sight.

“It was very emotional and absolutely phenomenal,” Cooney said, adding that she probably wouldn’t have survived one more night and she had to be out there for at least three weeks on the ground within a 50-yard radius.

“If we hadn’t gotten her, she wouldn’t be here,” said Clyde and Gretchen Stryker.

“It’s a great feeling because she did not like us or anyone shes a biter so we knew she was ready to go,” said Bonomo, a raptor specialist.

Kira Neilsen, a young Bend girl and veterinarian-to-be who’s been raising money for Patriot, was also there to watch Saturday.

Vets are now looking for a facility that can give Patriot the TLC he will most likely need on a daily basis for the rest of his life.

Bonomo said he is still using both legs, but puts more weight on his left foot, making him pretty tired.

More info on Saturday’s release, provided by Bonomo:

We caught PJ on August 6, 2011 near Crane Prairie along FS road 4285 about -1/2 mile from where Patriot was found. Because they were found so close together, we think PJ and Patriot may be related as father and daughter. We are sending in blood samples from both birds to do DNA fingerprinting aka paternity testing.

There were reports of an eagle on the ground for two to three weeks before PJ was caught. ODFW and OSP both searched the area but to no avail. Clyde and Gretchen Stryker found PJ on August 6, 2011 and notified the Forest Service and the Sunriver Nature Center. Jeannette and I were contacted by Sunriver Nature Center and we decided to go help capture the eagle. PJ was perched on a slash pile when we arrive and she could barely fly when we captured her. The Strykers and other bystanders helped us round her up.

She weighed 5.5 pounds when we caught her so I thought she was a male originally because males weigh 8 pounds and female around 12 pounds. However, PJ now weighs 11.5 pounds and so is clearly a female. At 5.5 pounds she was severely emaciated, dehydrated and anemic. She was very near death. Her initial therapy included intravenous fluids and an iron injection for anemia. After a day of intravenous fluids we began to give her oral fluids via stomach tube in addition to the IVs. Once she was hydrated we started her on a liquid diet via stomach tube. She was on the liquid diet for two days before we introduced small amounts of raw chicken into her diet. After two days on raw chicken she was able to self feed and could digest whole fish that people had donated.

Once she was back on her feet and eating well she and Patriot went to Wild Wings Rehabilitation Center in Sisters for some time in a flight cage. She was flying well in no time in the flight pen and so she was introduced to the creance for longer flights. A creance is a long line on a fishing reel that is attached to the birds legs via leather straps called jesses. Using the creance allowed her to make flights of several hundred feet. After two weeks of this conditioning she was ready to go!