Community Corner
Bald Eagle rescued in Oak Lawn
Trending: Injured Bald Eagle Rescued From Backyard
The eagle has landed, and he injured his wing.
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Oak Lawn, Ill. – Barry Adamczyk has fished raccoons out of attics, chased opossum from garages, and dealt with foxes, but he never got a call like the one he received Thursday reporting an injured Bald Eagle in a backyard.
“My first thought, ‘yeah, right,’” Adamczyk said, the animal control officer for Oak Lawn. “I doubt it’s an eagle. We get all kinds of calls for hawks."
When Adamczyk arrived at the man’s house the he pointed out the bird sitting on the chain link fence.
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“It had a white head. It was definitely a big bird,” Adamczyk said. “I thought, ‘Holy cow, this is a Bald Eagle.”
Adamczyk called another animal control officer – Rob Negrete – from a nearby community for help. Adamczyk and his colleague gathered some equipment for the wildlife rescue.
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“He looked like he had a broken wing,” Adamczyk said.
“We weren’t going to sit there and debate who got to pick him up,” Adamczyk said. “I had the net and the binos, and Rob had the gloves so he just bent down and scooped him up.”
The eagle was definitely aware of what was happening and didn’t put up a fight.
“I don’t think his actions were normal so he could have been dehydrated,” Adamczyk said. “It was easy going, he didn’t try to nip. The whole rescue took about five minutes.”
“Other than a broken wing, he seemed in good health,” Adamcyzk added.
The eagle was brought to the Willowbrook Wildlife Center in DuPage County, Illinois, where hopefully it will be nursed back to health.
Bald eagles stand about three feet tall and have a wingspan of six to eight feet. Bald Eagles were placed on the U.S. endangered species list in 1967. They were removed from the list in 2007.
