THUNDER BAY — After undergoing surgery for a broken wing, a juvenile bald eagle will spend the winter with a Thunder Bay woman who says it faces a lengthy path to recovery and the ability to fly again.
The eagle was discovered last month struggling on the side of the highway near Rossport, where it had apparently been hit by a passing vehicle.
The woman who found it took it home to keep it as comfortable as possible until she could arrange for it to be brought to Jenn Salo of ThunderBird Wildlife Rescue.
Salo, authorized by the Ministry of Natural Resources & Forestry as a wildlife custodian, immediately brought the bird to a local veterinary clinic where an x-ray showed a clean break in the humerus—the long bone in the wing.
Because it was a closed fracture, meaning the bone didn't protrude through the skin, Salo says she felt "this guy deserved a fighting chance."
At the clinic, the vet inserted a rod into the humerus, aligned the pieces back into place, and stabilized it.
"It was not easy..this guy will be in critical care for the next 6-8 weeks before the pin can even be removed," Salo said.
If healing has gone well to that point, she said, "We begin the long road to recovery."
Salo, who is a trained falconer, said the route to returning the eagle to the wild must include exercise to rebuild strength in the broken wing. "Then he must be able to hunt and soar successfully."
Injured birds of prey, she told Tbnewswatch, not only need to heal, but also have to be fit for release.
"I can't just let him go, because that's going to seal his fate. He's just going to die after all that hard work. I've gotta make sure he has full use of that wing so he can make those hard hits when he needs to if he's going for fish, if he's going for ducks or geese. Bald eagles are very good waterfowl hunters."
Salo has dedicated her education and training to establishing a wildlife rescue facility in Thunder Bay.
She recently graduated with an honours bachelors degree in environmental management, specializing in wildlife management and conservation.
Salo's mission to help birds and other injured wildlife "is not something that is lightly undertaken," she said.
The cost of the eagle's surgical procedure alone was $1,500, and the bird will need to be anaesthetized during at least two more procedures, first to remove its stitches, then to remove the rod from the bone.
There will be additional, ongoing costs as the eagle recovers over the coming months.
Salo hopes publicity will help prove to the community that Thunder Bay needs a full-service wildlife rescue centre or nature centre that could also provide "hands-on learning."
"There's such an opportunity for education here, and I think so many people would benefit from it," she said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been established to assist her with the expenses incurred in caring for the eagle.
