The staff of the Tamarack Wildlife Center in Crawford County deserve praise for their successful efforts to heal an injured bald eagle found last fall near Slippery Rock.

The young adult male was found tangled up in a fence on Thanksgiving. Members of the center were called out to extricate the bird, but his fight with the fence had left him with claw and wing injuries. It took five months of healing and rehabilitation before the eagle was released back into the wild last week.

The center’s staff showed both patience and courage caring for an injured bird that can weigh up to 14 pounds with a 6-and-a-half-foot wingspan and equipped with formidable claws and beak.

The injured bird’s recovery and release were important because, while the bald eagle population has made a comeback from the brink of extinction in 1963 to more than 71,000 nesting pairs nationwide this year, the bald eagle population is not big enough yet that the potential loss of a viable breeding bird isn’t keenly felt.

Despite the eagles’ recent population recovery, they still face threats from electrocution, lead poisoning, habitat loss and extreme weather.

The birds are still protected under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits killing, selling or harming of eagles and their nests.

The center staff released their former patient in state game lands in Lawrence County in hopes he might find an unattached lady eagle.

There are an estimated 300 eagles’ nests in Pennsylvania. The work of Tamarack Wildlife Center could see that number rise to 301 if their feathered former patient courts a mate successfully.

— EF