Wildlife officials in Missouri rescued what they thought was an injured and flightless bald eagle, only to discover it had gorged itself on a roadkill raccoon and was “too fat to fly”.
The bird was spotted on the ground near the boundary of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield in Springfield, site of the first major civil war engagement west of the Mississippi river in 1861.
Rangers from the Missouri department of conservation, working with National Park Service staff, captured and transported it to Dickerson Park Zoo for examination and X-rays.
Veterinarians expecting images of broken wings or other trauma instead found themselves looking at a succession of photographs of the remains of the eagle’s most recent meal, namely a raccoon’s leg and paw in its distended stomach.
“The bird, originally reported to be injured, was found to be healthy but engorged with racoon, in other words, too fat to fly,” Wilson’s Creek said in a Facebook post.
“The x-rays show the outline of what we suspect is racoon roadkill.”
The eagle was released, completely healthy and full of energy, after a short period of “rehabilitation” at the zoo’s wildlife hospital.
Several commentators on the park’s original social media post said they had spotted the listless bird in the days before its capture at the side of Interstate 44, or shambling around residents’ yards in Springfield. The bird “was having a hard time getting off the ground”, one said.
Missouri is a leading state in bald eagle conservation, with officials recording the presence of more than 400 nests over the last winter.
Their diet consists mostly of fish, but they are opportunistic feeders and will feast on carrion, experts say.
“Bald eagles will often follow the fall migration of ducks and geese and feed on birds that have been injured by hunters. They also can feed on moderately sized wild mammals, such as groundhogs,” according to the American Eagle Foundation.
“They will feed on what is most available, and requiring the least amount of energy to acquire it.”
