Two young bald eagles were released from a Nova Scotian wildlife rescue on Monday. Creatures are taken into the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre when they’re injured, orphaned or sick. As for the birds, one was starving and the other had fallen ill due to lead poisoning, an increasingly common issue in birds these days, experts say. Dr. Jessica Rock, a volunteer veterinarian with the rehabilitation centre, was present when the eagles came into their care. “So Parker, the youngster that was affected by lead, he was really, really sad. He couldn’t actually hold up his head,” she told CTV Your Morning Atlantic’s Crystal Garrett. “He was in the arms of handlers and his head was just kind of flopped down, and he couldn’t watch movements.” The most common source of exposure to lead for wildlife is spent ammunition in the remains of hunted game and used fishing tackle left behind in the environment. “Bald eagles are scavengers for the better part of the year and so if they eat a carcass or some tissue that has lead contamination in it, they can become lead poisoned,” she explains. “That’s the most likely source that Parker was poisoned from.” The other eagle, Rush, was starving when she arrived at the rehabilitation centre. “She was also very quiet and weak, so the difference was shocking,” Rock says. A lot of work goes into the creatures’ rehabilitation. “Especially with the early stages of starvation and lead poisoning,” she adds. “There’s a lot of daily care and handling that goes into getting these guys feeling better… so it’s definitely a labour of love early on as the birds progress through their rehabilitation journey.” After all the charity’s work, this week Parker and Rush were released together at Cape Breton Highlands National Park. “This is a pair of young birds that has spent the last year or so together and whenever we’re releasing youngsters that have been in care for a long time, it’s nice if we can release them with a buddy so they have somebody to rely on,” Rock says. “And since these birds were both from that area, we thought that was perfect to put that together.” She says there’s nothing like seeing those healthy birds stretch out their wings and take flight again. “There’s nothing that compares to it, it’s like magic,” she says. The Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre will host its annual fall fundraiser in Truro, N.S., on Nov. 6. More information is available at the centre’s website. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
