Think orthodontic headgear for a child with braces.
That's basically what the Norfolk Botanical Garden's celebrity eaglet is now sporting.
On Saturday at the Wildlife Center of Virginia near Waynesboro, a team of veterinarians that included a renowned avian surgeon from Illinois anesthetized the baby eagle and worked to fix its crooked beak that was misshapen by a growth.
The 3-month-old's beak was so twisted that the bird could not feed itself and was eating bits of mice off forceps.
First the veterinarians trimmed the deformed upper beak so it could fit properly with the lower beak. Then they crafted a brace of sorts from medical acrylic and anchored it to the lower jaw with wires.
"While the device looks pretty strange sticking up beside the eaglet's beak, it is certainly no worse than the original growth must have been," Ed Clark, the center's president and co-founder, said. The nonprofit center is supported by donations from individuals, corporations and foundations.
Last week, the growth fell off on its own. Saturday's surgery was originally scheduled to remove it.
After they finished fastening the brace, the veterinarians closed the hole in the side of the upper beak where the mass had grown with a fine wire mesh topped by more medical acrylic.
"It is too soon to tell whether this little bird will ever go back to the wild, but for the first time we can begin to speculate about its long-term future," Clark said.
Debbie Messina, (757) 446-2588, debbie.messina@pilotonline.com
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Im glad
to hear the baby is doing better. I hope it has a wonderful life.
Thanks
My mother and I have watched the eagles and their babies for the last two years at the Botanical Gardens and I would like to thank the VA Pilot and the Non-Profit for keeping us locals up-to-date on the happenings and progress of our little one! It's great that our area is a place that these beautiful and symbolic birds can call home!
Glad to have done my part!
I am very thankful to all the staff at Wildlife Center of Virginia for providing not only support to the NBG Eaglet, but to all wildlife in need. With the donations to the center from all over the world, the care of this Eaglet has been possible. I guess some people feel that "This money should be spent on the health of children" and "let nature take its course". This is your opinion. Thanks to your comments, they helped me do what I did and that was donote $1300.00 from sales of photos of this eaglet and it's parents to the Wildlife Center of Virginia for the care of this Eaglet. So infact Laura, you inspired me to make the donation. Thank you for our words of your wisdom, they went a long way helping the NBG eaglet!
It's not your money, Laura
The nonprofit center is supported by donations from individuals, corporations and foundations. They can spend it any way they want. It's an honorable thing that these people care enough about this icon of America to provide the care noted in this article.
If it was tax money, Laura, you might have a say, but in this matter, you don't. In your own words, "Get a grip!"
let nature take its course
and stop squandering money like this. If they'd left the bird alone the growth would have taken care of itself. Next thing you'll hear is the bird suddenly died as a result of the treatment.
Wonderful!
Thank you to the medical personnel and their efforts to help this noble bird and all of the other injured wildlife they and other widlife rehabilitators help. The Wildlife Response group of volunteers in the Hampton Roads area has similarly helped many animals. I have witnessed a Red Tailed Hawk with a broken wing be released into the wild again after surgical repairs and rehabiltation. Amazing!