Flight to freedom: bald eagle will be released Sunday at Martin Marietta Park
A bald eagle that was rescued and rehabilitated by a local wildlife group will get a new chance at life Sunday when it is released at Martin Marietta Park in New Bern.
The city of New Bern Parks and Recreation is partnering with the Wild at Heart Wildlife Sanctuary of Richlands to release the bald eagle on September 11 at 11 a.m.
Martin Marietta Park is located at 700 S. Glenburnie Road in New Bern.
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According to Tonya Weil, who co-founded Wild at Heart Wildlife Sanctuary two years ago, the bald eagle being released Sunday is a four-year-old female. She said the bird came to the sanctuary in May 2021 after she was found in the New Bern area suffering from a feather cyst.
“It was on the place where they grow new feathers and it was infected,” Weil said. “A vet had to open the whole thing up, clean it out and put her on antibiotics. It was about a four-week process of her healing from that.”
Weil said the eagle lost several feathers, causing a gap in her wing that left the raptor unable to fly. After a lengthy feather re-growing process, she went through flight reconditioning that lasted several months.
Weil said the bald eagle was also suffering from a mild case of lead poisoning when she was found, something she sees all too often in the birds she cares for.
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A bald eagle released by Wild at Heart in February at BSH Home Appliances in New Bern was found in Myrtle Beach a year earlier with lead poisoning, a broken wing and a broken toe, most likely the result of a collision with a vehicle.
According to Weil, 68 percent of the eagles that come to Wild at Heart suffer from some level of lead poisoning. She said the main source of the contamination can be a problem for humans as well.
“For eagles, it usually comes from scavenged deer carcasses,” she noted. “We hunt with lead and people don’t realize they’re ingesting this themselves. We’ve taken x-rays of processed deer meat that someone has donated to us and the whole thing was just scattered with little bits of lead. And once it’s in your system it never goes away.”
Weil said Wild at Heart is the only active bald eagle rehabilitation facility currently operating in coastal North Carolina. She admitted that caring for eagles poses challenges far beyond those seen with other birds.
“It’s hard just to get a permit to work with eagles,” she explained. “For other species combined you have to do 100 hours of training and for eagles alone, it’s 300 hours. And the bigger the bird the bigger the cage they need, which costs more money. At one point we had nine eagles and I was about to cry, but now we’re down to four.”
Weil said Martin Marietta Park was chosen for Sunday's release mainly for the space it provides and its access to water.
“When you release a bird it can be difficult. If it’s something big you basically need a runway, they need room to take off,” she said. “And for eagles I want them to be near a water source because their main food is fish."
The release will be done in a field near Martin Marietta's main entrance parking area. Weil said the public is invited to attend and stay after the release to view other animals that will be on hand at the Wild at Heart tent.
“We’re going to bring our osprey and a turtle and I’m not sure what else,” she said. “We’re going to bring a couple of our ambassadors out so we can talk to people if they have some questions afterward.”
Reporter Todd Wetherington can be reached by email at wwetherington@gannett.com. Please consider supporting local journalism by signing up for a digital subscription.
This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Flight to freedom: bald eagle will be released at Martin Marietta Park
