“He was desperate to survive. We wanted to make sure we gave him all the help we could,” the executive director of Austin Wildlife Rescue said.
An injured bald eagle is on his road to recovery at the Austin Wildlife Rescue facility in Elgin.
Executive Director Hayley Hudnall helped take him in.
“He was desperate to survive. We wanted to make sure we gave him all the help we could. He had an injured wing,” Hudnall said.
The bald eagle was spotted outside College Station. Hudnall told KVUE that she believes the eagle was hit by a car. He lost a lot of feathers, injured his wrist and was underweight.
Hudnall said the bird was brought to Elgin because there are not many rehab centers in Texas that have cages big enough to hold him. When he arrived at the center, he was unable to fly.
“When he first came, it was everyday treatment. The wounds were bad enough and deep enough we didn’t want infection from happening,” Hudnall said.
The bald eagle has been at the rescue center for about a month.
“Before we even gave him food, we did a lot of fluid therapy. We actually put fluid under his skin, so he absorbs it a lot faster and was on some pain meds, antibiotics. And, again, he had to be sedated,” Hudnall said. “He was not happy. So, he was sedated every day while we changed his bandages until he got to the point he didn’t need the bandages. He was kind of quietly healing on his own.”
Over the past couple of weeks, he started to fly again, but he is not ready to be released just yet.
“He doesn’t have enough lift,” Hudnall said. “We need to make sure that a bird not only can fly straight but lift, so he can get up and get height. We think it will be another two to three months before has enough feathers to get that lift.”
The bald eagle remains in the large flight cage so he can practice his flying and build his muscles. Once he’s healthy enough, the center will release him back into the wild.
