Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society (OWL) rescued a juvenile bald eagle which was stuck in a water treatment settling pond in Richmond in August. Yesterday, OWL shared the video of the rescue operation on its Facebook page.
Its feathers coated with sludge, the young bird was unable to take flight and was stranded on a patch of vegetation. Owl staff rescued the bird with a clever tactic while Iona Wastewater Treatment plant workers and Richmond firefighters helped them. The bald eagle was released in September after medical treatment.
“The pond was 561 feet wide and the eagle was 131 feet away at the closest point. OWL staff and volunteers brainstormed and came up with attempting the rescue with a volunteers 32 foot volleyball net and 600 feet of marine rope,” OWL said in a Facebook post.
“When staff and volunteers arrived at the location they received help from Iona Wastewater Treatment plant workers and the use of their front end loader to hold one end of the rope high to drag the volleyball net towards the bird. Realizing we needed more equipment we called the Richmond Fire Department told them about our predicament and they graciously offered to help. With two teams of staff and volunteers from OWL, water treatment staff, and the fire department we put our rescue into action. As you can see in the video it took a few attempts for it to successfully bring the bird to land but it worked!”
Watch the full video here.
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