Covered in Mystery Goo, a Rescued Bald Eagle Is Recovering at a Refuge Where Staff ‘Love to Be Hated’
A bald eagle found soaking wet and unable to fly at an Ontario garbage dump is recovering after a six-person rescue operation ended with the bird covered in jackets and, somehow, mystery goo. Fortunately, medical tests suggest this particularly rough landing should only temporarily clip her wings.
Bylaw officers rescued the eagle from a Brantford landfill on Monday after receiving reports that the bird wasn’t moving. As reported by CBC News, staff eventually needed dirt bikes, people on foot, and around 40 minutes to corner their unusually high-profile visitor.
The eagle was later transferred to Hobbitstee Wildlife Refuge in Nanticoke, where authorized wildlife custodian Chantal Theijin discovered that getting caught was probably not the bird’s biggest indignity. She arrived drenched, foul-smelling, and coated in an unidentified substance that required a thorough wash. Talk about a garbage day.
This Eagle Rescue Became a Wild Goose Chase
Ian Harrower, Brantford’s supervisor of bylaw compliance, said around six people were involved in capturing the bird. Since she couldn’t fly, staff on dirt bikes attempted to guide her toward rescuers waiting on foot.
The eagle wasn’t particularly interested in cooperating. She hopped through the landfill, crossed creeks and streams, and made her rescuers work for their eventual victory. Thanks to their relentless pursuit, the team managed to corner her and cover her with their jackets. Good to see that wildlife rescue missions and outerwear can work together in harmony, unlike some flight risk eagles…
Harrower called the operation a “little adventure,” which seems fair for employees more accustomed to handling complaints involving lawns, weeds, and property standards. Apparently, nobody had “bald-eagle pursuit” on Monday’s municipal to-do list. There are multiple reasons why a wild animal might end up in unexpected places, but one of the top reasons is habitat destruction. That said, the mystery goo and high speed landfill chase might not have been on the eagle’s itinerary for the day either. Then again, unexpected rescues from garbage dumps and trucks apparently deserve their own category of emergency.
Concerns that the eagle might have a broken wing thankfully proved unfounded. After being transported through Hillside Kennels Animal Control to Hobbitstee, X-rays and blood tests returned normal results.
At This Refuge, Getting the Death Stare Is Good News
Her feathers are another matter. Theijin said the eagle had to be extensively washed because of the mysterious “goo” coating her, which affected the natural oils protecting her feathers. The bird is expected to spend approximately two to four weeks recovering before she can return to the wild.
Hobbitstee is no stranger to formidable patients. The donation-funded wildlife refuge cares for animals ranging from squirrels and foxes to coyotes and birds of prey, while Theijin estimates it receives between one and two dozen eagles annually.
This particular patient is apparently reasonably tolerant of her temporary roommates, but she’s already delivering the kind of glare that suggests she’d prefer everyone stop helping immediately. For Theijin, that’s exactly what she wants to see.
“I work with wildlife and pretty much all the animals that we have in care would prefer to kill me, and that is perfectly OK,” she said, explaining that hostility can signal an animal is recovering. “So in my world, I love to be hated.”
After surviving a garbage dump, a bath saga, and the indignity of being tackled with outerwear, the eagle appears to have one item left on her recovery checklist: get well enough to hate everyone properly, then get the flock out of there.
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