Mysteriously sick, erratic bald eagles struggling to fly have Maryland experts puzzled
Mysteriously sick bald eagles that were “acting strangely” while feeding on a deer carcass in Maryland have wildlife experts puzzled.
A concerned man, William Fauntleroy, saw the five eagles and said they were “disoriented, uncoordinated” and struggling to fly in the Manchester area, below the border of Pennsylvania, WBAL-TV reported.
One eagle flew into a power line and died, a spokesperson with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources told McClatchy News.
Fauntlery reported their strange behavior and they were taken to the Phoenix Wildlife Center roughly 25 miles away in Baltimore County.
“Was it poison? Was it an algae bloom? Was it something else? We don’t have answers yet,” the center wrote in a post on Facebook with a photo of two eagles swaddled in blankets.
McClatchy News has reached out to the center for comment.
The eagles — America’s national symbol — “seemed to be visually impaired,” Fauntleroy said, according to the TV station. “And as time went on, they became fully incapacitated.”
Police with the state’s Department of National Resources responded to the scene on Nov. 7 and met with a concerned wildlife photographer who said the eagles were “‘acting strangely” before they began “to fly strangely,”, spokesperson Lauren Moses told McClatchy in an emailed statement. The photographer’s name was not released.
Officers buried the deer carcass “to prevent any other wildlife from being potentially harmed,” Moses said.
She said the eagles are recovering at the wildlife center and police are investigating the matter.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officials are expected to take samples from the deer carcass for testing, Moses told the Washington Post.
The director of the wildlife center, Kathleen Woods, said the eagles were “lifeless” when they arrived but as of the morning of Nov. 11, they were standing, she said in an interview with WTOP.
A toxicology lab in Pennsylvania is analyzing samples taken from the birds, the outlet reported.
The wildlife center has raised over $2,400 to help pay for the care of the sickly eagles and said they would be posting updates on how they’re doing, according to the organization’s Facebook.
Bald eagles were threatened by extinction 40 years ago, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Act.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 11:52 AM with the headline "Mysteriously sick, erratic bald eagles struggling to fly have Maryland experts puzzled."
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