Hailey Johnson and Zion Grinsell were paddling the entrance to Cocolalla Creek when they saw the eagle on a small peninsula.
“It was just sitting there doing nothing,” said Johnson, 12.
Moreover, the raptor seemed indifferent to their presence, which struck Johnson odd.
“We paddled down the creek as far as we could go and then I told Zion that if it’s still there when we get back maybe we should worry. So we paddled down the creek and it was still there,” said Johnson, who aspires to be a veterinarian.
They returned to shore to get an iPod in order to shoot some pictures and video, and to find out if it was still there. It was and it was still there after Johnson returned to the site after eating dinner.
Johnson’s mother, Linda, contacted the Idaho Department of Fish & Game but couldn’t reach anyone. They then called the Bonner County Sheriff’s Office, which directed them to Birds of Prey Northwest, the northern Idaho nonprofit which rehabilitates ill or injured raptors.
Birds of Prey urged them to try and retrieve the eagle and keep it in a dog crate overnight.
A rescue party put a jacket over the eagle’s head and wrapped it in a towel.
“It was actually very calm, which was worrisome,” Linda Johnson said.
Linda Johnson’s friend, Laura Jones, kept the bird at her place overnight. Jones said the listless eagle was laying in cage with a sheet draped over it.
It did not look good for the eagle, but when they awoke the next day they encountered a pleasant surprise.
“It was standing straight up in the cage,” said Jones, whose son, David, aided in the rescue effort.
David Jones rendezvoused with a Birds of Prey official at a Post Falls animal hospital on Wednesday.
But the initial prognosis wasn’t too promising. Linda Johnson said a raptor biologist reported to her that the eagle was in critical condition, infested with fleas and had been starving for as many as 10 days. The preliminary suspicion was that the bird may have been sickened by metals used in fishing tackle or shotgun buckshot.
It has been under critical care for the last three days, according to Birds of Prey raptor biologist Jane Veltkamp. It has been receiving care every four hours with fluids and medications to keep it from dying.
“It’s slowly improving and we expect to recover, although it will take many months of care. It had lost nearly 50 percent of its body weight when found grounded by nearby residents,” Veltkamp said on Friday.
Veltkamp said the eagle, which also had a foot injury, is taking bits of fish and is scheduled to be moved to Birds of Prey’s outdoor aviary this weekend.
Back in Cocolalla, meanwhile, the injured eagle’s mate is awaiting his return.
“His mate has been flying around the around the lake where he was because eagles mate for life,” Hailey Johnson said.
(Bonner County Daily Bee - July 30, 2016)
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