He had a broken wing, they suspect from being hit by a vehicle. Luckily, they were happy to help Freedom out of this tight spot.
The bald eagle arrived in a box…
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And was bigger than anyone at the hospital could have imagined.
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This is how big his talons were compared to a vet’s hand.
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They tried to keep him calm and stabilized while the doctor looked him over.
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Freedom had an open fracture, which is where the bone breaks and then will break through the skin, causing some blood loss.
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This big guy had quite a wingspan.
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He was pretty calm throughout the entire ordeal, thankfully, which helped both him and the vets from becoming injured.
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The vets at the emergency clinic were able to get the eagle patched up and send him on his way. This was an update posted by one of them at the hospital:
Once we’ve stabilized an animal/checked them over, we call the wildlife rehab centre in our city and they come p/u the animals. They provide long-term treatments and will attempt to rehab them in the wild again. A bad wing break like this (open fracture) is difficult to repair and can sometimes result in a wing amputation which prevents release. A wild bird does not always do well in captivity so, quite often, humane euthanasia is a common route. For this particular fellow, he went to the centre and I’m personally crossing my fingers that they’ll be able to help him and give him another few years of life. Hopefully he stays away from vehicles in the future…
Hopefully Freedom is able to heal up at the rehab center and find his way back out into the wild. Talk about an unforgettable night at the clinic!