| With onlookers including a wide-eyed seventh-grade class from Millsboro Middle School, Fish and Wildlife Enforcement agents Cpl. Douglas Messeck and Cpl. David Ptak carefully lifted the top off a large pet carrier Wednesday morning, Oct. 21.
The huge, dark bird - with her distinctive white head - barely paused before she was airborne, soaring away from the crowd toward the trees surrounding Ingram Pond near Millsboro.
Moments earlier, the carrier had been tucked in the back of Ptak’s enforcement vehicle, its occupant thumping loudly and impatiently. Releasing the eagle at the Indian River School District’s Nature Center concluded one of the agents’ more interesting rescues.
“You just never know when the call comes in,” Messeck said of Fish and Wildlife Enforcement’s widely varied police work. In this case, the call came Saturday morning, Oct. 17, when hunters spotted the downed eagle trapped in briars in a wooded area near Harrington. Messeck and Ptak responded to the scene, where property owner Jeff Pardee met them and assisted with the rescue. They braved the briars along with the cold rain and wind to reach the chilled, soaked bird. They got her into a crate to be transported to Tri-State Bird Rescue in Newark.
Dr. Erica Miller, Tri-State’s staff veterinarian, said the mature female eagle was dried off, cleaned up and carefully checked for injuries and illness, neither of which were indicated, though she was treated for low-level lead exposure. Miller theorized the eagle may have been pursuing prey, involved in a territorial dispute or downed by a nearby power line when she became entangled, but she did not suffer any serious injury.
The eagle recovered quickly and was ready for release Wednesday, Oct. 21, when Messeck happened to be in an ideal area: the nature center, with its nearby fishing pond and woods. After leaving the carrier, she could be seen for some time perched atop a tall tree beside the pond.
For more information about Tri-State Bird Rescue, call 302-737-9543 or go to tristatebird.org
Source: Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control
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