Update at 5:30 p.m.

Veterinarians performed surery on the female eagle to repair a chip off her right wing. The eagle has a lot of bruising but is expected to fully recover. Workers at Busch Gardens will monitor the bird and will get her back to her mate as soon as possible. According to the staff, the eagle "wasn't happy bout the situation."

Clearwater police officers and firefighters rescued an injured American Bald Eagle Wednesday morning.

  • Bald Eagle rescued on Countryside Boulevard
  • It appears to have been hit by a car
  • The eagle is being cared by Busch Gardens

Officers were called to Countryside Boulevard near the Westfield Countryside Mall after people noticed the eagle in the road.

Onlookers said it looked like the eagle was struck by a car while it was trying to eat a dead animal on the road.

Police shut down two lanes of Countryside Boulevard until the eagle moved to the side of the road. A wildlife rescue specialist from Owl's Nest Sanctuary for Wildlife, with assistance from first responders, captured the bird.  

Wednesday afternoon, Clearwater Police released the following statement via Facebook:

The eagle has landed at Busch Gardens, where she is being treated for a bone chip and bruising on her wing. The bone chip was removed during surgery and she will be undergoing rehabilitation there. The goal would be to release her in the same area she was found once she is healthy enough. "She's very lucky," said Kris Porter, licensed rehabber who sent a worker to the scene to rescue the magnificent bird.

You can follow updates on the feathered patient on the Owl's Nest facebook page.

 

Bald Eagle Population

The American Bald Eagle is our nation’s symbol and was once an endangered species. At one point it was in danger of becoming extinct until the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Since then, bald eagles have experienced an impressive comeback.

  • 1995 – eagles moved from endangered to threatened
  • 1999 – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposal to remove bald eagles from the threatened and endangered list
  • June 28, 2007 – the government declared the species “recovered” and it was officially removed from the threatened and endangered list

In Florida alone the most recent report on Bald Eagle breeding pairs number over a thousand.