NORFOLK, Va. - The Wildlife Center of Virginia says that on April 25, an immature Bald Eagle was struck by an airplane at the Norfolk International Airport.
The airport fire department captured the bird and took him to a local permitted wildlife rehabilitator. The eagle was transferred to the Wildlife Center on April 26.
Dr. Ernesto, the center's hospital director, examined the two-year-old eagle on admission. The immature eagle was bright and alert, but Dr. Ernesto says he quickly realized that the eagle had a severe open fracture of his right elbow.
Due to the severity, nature, and location of the fracture, a surgical repair was not possible; Dr. Ernesto humanely euthanized the bird.
The center says this Bald Eagle came nine years to the day after another Bald Eagle was struck by a plane at the Norfolk airport. That bird, a well-known female Bald Eagle that nested at the Norfolk Botanical Garden, was killed; her offspring, the three well-known "Rock Star" eagles, were taken to the Wildlife Center for care and eventually released.
