Rescued Eagle Dies from Lead Poisoning, Respiratory Ailment

Despite the efforts of rescuers at the Maryland Yacht Club and bird rescue specialists, Rocky, the bald eagle died last week.

Lisa Smith, executive director of Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research, Inc. in Delaware, said the 5-year-old bird suffered from lead poisoning and a respiratory illness. The ailments were too much for the eagle to overcome, she told the Capital-Gazette.

Caretakers found two shot pellets in the bird’s left breast muscle, the yacht club said on its Facebook page, and the case was reported to the Maryland Natural Resource Police. It is a federal crime to shoot shoot a bald eagle.

The eagle was seen frantic splashing in the water near a pier at the Maryland Yacht Club on Sept. 21 by maintenance manager Ernie Jenkins. He grabbed a net and fished out the exhausted raptor.

“Don’t know why he was in water but I had to save him,” Jenkins wrote on the yacht club’s Facebook page. “I see him all the time here. I know (where) he sleeps. … I know he will be back soon.”

Club members dubbed the critically ill bird Rocky. Lead poisoning can affect brain functions, reports WJZ TV. Eagles hunt for their food, but also scavenge, so Rocky may have eaten lead shotgun pellets from animals hit by hunters, or consumed a lead fishing weight.

The poison had sapped the strength of the majestic bird.

“I said ‘I can’t let him drown; I gotta get him out,’” Jenkins told WJZ. “He was just so exhausted. He just sat there and sat there and sat there.”

»A bald eagle suffering from lead poisoning was rescued by Ernie Jenkins of the Maryland Yacht Club in Pasadena. Credit: MYC Facebook page