Soar for sighted eyes

The two fishermen knew the bald eagle was sick.

Anyone would have. It flew up, then plopped hard to the ground. It took off again, crashed into a tree and hung upside down from a limb.

They called the Nebraska Humane Society and eventually met longtime animal control officer Bill Lueck at a crossroads east of Offutt Air Force Base.

The fishermen, Craig Kimball and Tom Merwald Jr., led Lueck to the eagle. Kimball, who runs a tree-trimming service, pulled a ladder from his pickup truck, climbed it and pushed the limb down. Lueck put a net over the eagle.

Lueck knew where to take the bird: to Denise Lewis of Raptor Recovery Nebraska. Lewis kept it overnight in her Bellevue home.

Within the next few days, the eagle was examined by veterinarian Michael Bosilevac and veterinary eye specialist Tonya McIlnay. The eagle was a mature female, weighed 8 pounds and was malnourished.

She also was virtually blind. Diagnosis: lead poisoning, either from fish or ducks it had eaten, or contaminated soil or water.

Raptor Recovery Nebraska placed her in its Elmwood, Neb., center this spring and gave her injections to clear out the poison. The eagle improved. It flew around the complex and swooped on dead rabbits and fish placed on an indoor tree stump. Its eyesight had returned.

On Saturday, Lewis held a ceremony attended by about 70 people at Bellevue’s Haworth Park. The fishermen, the veterinarians and the animal control officer were there.

Lewis pulled the eagle from a cardboard box. It tucked its head and held out huge claws and talons. Lewis walked toward the Missouri River and released her.

She dipped toward the river, then continued flying to the other side. Minutes later, she circled and circled, high in the blue sky on a late-summer Saturday afternoon.

Contact the writer:

444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com