This is a story that needs to be told…
This beautiful adult female Bald Eagle was found near Tulelake Wildlife Refuge, down on the ground. We could not find any injuries, so we suspected poisoning. A blood test revealed that she had 21 times the safe level of lead in her system. No, she hadn’t been shot, but she had been eating ducks and geese that had either been shot with lead shot or that had ingested it off the marsh bottom.
She initially responded well to medication that pulled the lead from her tissues, into her kidneys, where it was expelled in her urine. After two weeks of intensive treatment, she succumbed to a sudden heart attack, a side effect of lead poisoning. The lead treatment does not come cheap or easy. It is a 5 week process of catching her and forcing oral medication twice daily, at a cost of over $16 per day!
Unfortunately, we know that she is not the last case of lead poisoning we will see. Our immense thanks to USFW for helping with the cost of the medication, but we still need your help! Please contribute to Badger Run Wildlife Rehab and help us help them!
