QCA rescue set to release eagle back into the wild after rehab
Hog Capital Wildlife Rescue and Rehab, Kewanee, is working to bring a Bald Eagle back to health just in time for Memorial Day weekend. Recently, the rescue has treated Bald Eagles with lead poisoning, which rescuers say is a growing epidemic.
Rescuers are caring for an eagle that lost its feathers back in February. Rescuers say his release could have not happened on a better day, with the Memorial Day holiday coming up.
“The conservation officer called and said, ‘Hey I got this eagle,'” said Tamara Yarger, president of the rescue. “He said I think it’s an eagle, and I’m not really sure.”
A picture can say a thousand words, and in the case for Icarus the eagle, it screamed out to Hog Capitol Wildlife Rescue to rehab the starving bird.
“When he sent me the photo I said ‘Oh, this poor guy,'” Yarger said.
Yarger says she’s committed to bringing every animal that her rescue receives back to full health. That includes Icarus, the Bald Eagle that was saved in February.
“It looked like he went through an automatic chicken plucker, if there is such a thing,” Yarger said. “We basically fed him, gave him lots of vitamins that focused a lot on his condition and his feathers. He was a very good patient.”
From starving and barely having any feathers, Icarus improved to flying around his outdoor cage, itching to get back into the wild.
“He is clearly ready,” Yarger said. He’s banging around his big cage over there, banging his feet first into the walls and just ready to get his way out. One of our goals was to see him on the highest perch, and once he reached that it’s like ‘OK, we’ll give him a couple more weeks and he’ll be good to go.'”
Hog Capitol Rescue has saved and rehabilitated too many animals to count. Yarger says they say the release of the animals back into the wild is what makes every rescue worth it.
“It’s phenomenal. There’s nothing like it, honestly,” Yarger said. “We’ve worked to bring back these animals from really bad conditions when they come in. We then watch them go back out and be able to do their thing again. It’s just fantastic.”
Icarus the eagle will be released Monday afternoon around New Boston, Illinois. Yargers says the rescuers are proud to release him on such a meaningful holiday.
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