Prognosis for Norfolk's baby eagle uncertain after MRI scan

Scans of a growth on the beak of a young bald eagle, removed Thursday from Norfolk Botanical Garden, show that it may be more of a problem than earlier thought.

Dr. Dave McRuer, director of veterinary services at the Wildlife Center of Virginia, said Sunday that it now appears that the growth has extended into the eaglet’s sinuses – something earlier visual examinations and X-rays had not revealed.

The month-old nestling was taken to the Augusta Medical Center in Fishersville on Saturday for an MRI scan of the mass that has grown on its upper beak. The imaging revealed the true extent of the growth.

It was not the picture Wildlife Center staff wanted to see.

The scan shows that the mass has “not only grown out and away from the beak, but also internally into the nasal sinus,” McRuer said.

“Thus far, the mass is localized to just the front aspect of the sinus and has not crossed the septum into the front right sinus,” he said. Still, it has “invaded” both the surface of the beak and underlying bone.

The new information will be used, along with results of a biopsy that are expected to come in Thursday or Friday, to determine a prognosis.

“We knew it was serious from the beginning,” said Edward E. Clark Jr., president of the Waynesboro-based Wildlife Center. "Under no circumstances is it normal for a 27- or 28-day-old chick to have a growth that is that aggressive.”

He said that when the growth was described to the staff prior to the eaglet’s arrival, it was hard to believe what they were being told. Then they saw for themselves.

“We are not easily shocked, but we were shocked at that,” Clark said. The staff has “never seen a tumor like this on a bird of any type, of any age.”

After X-rays were made Friday, however, there had been a boost in the staff’s mood.

They were “guardedly optimistic that the X-rays didn’t show obvious involvement of the bones,” Clark said.

Then the MRI results came in. “It’s far more aggressive and far more invasive than we had thought,” Clark said.

He said any treatment regimen, “if it’s even conceivable,” will depend on a pathology report expected sometime midweek from the Southeast Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga.

“We will know then whether or not the treatment option even exists,” Clark said. “We will not perform any surgery until we know what we are dealing with.”

If it is some kind of viral infection, he said there are options. But, if it’s malignant, there may not be.

“We do not want the public to get their hopes up,” Clark said.

“It’s tragic,” he said. The young eagle has “all the spirit in the world, eating like nothing is wrong and doing all the stuff an eagle chick would do.”

The eaglet has won a growing, worldwide following, featured as it has been on the Botanical Garden’s “Eagle Cam,” a joint venture with WVEC-TV and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Since its arrival at the Wildlife Center, “we have seen an outpouring of interest and concern about this little bird,” Clark said. The attention will not affect its treatment, however.

“We go the extra mile for every animal that comes in our door,” Clark said. “The decision about what will happen will be a decision based 100 percent on what we feel is best for the bird.”

Last year, the Wildlife Center treated about three dozen eagles and has seen hundreds over the years, he said.

“We have not only a good feel for what is and is not fixable, but we also know when we really are fighting against losing odds,” Clark said.

If the bird does not make it, “he will be fully and thoroughly evaluated” to learn everything possible about what caused the growth, with particular attention to discovering anything that might pose a threat to recovering eagle populations in the region.

For now, “the little bird does not seem to be suffering,” Clark said. “He’s eating fine.”

And the good news is that this will likely not be the last eaglet born to the parents who have become the Eagle Cam stars over the years.

“The parents have demonstrated their determination to be successful in reproducing,” Clark said. “Regardless of how this story turns out, the population of eagles in Virginia will continue to rebound.”