Say Goodbye to Dances with Wolves

Back in January of this year we were going nuts with all of the eagles from Kodiak. We were sending all other eagles to The Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka because we were maxed out several times over. However, Shannon, a curator from the Alaska Zoo brought in an immature bald eagle. She said it landed in the wolf pen and the young wolves were playing tug of war.

We took this girl in and named her "Dances with Wolves". An exam was done at the zoo by their DVM, Dr. Riley Wilson who is one of our back up DVM's. He couldn't find anything wrong except for a bunch of missing primary feathers. So we fed her and placed her in a mew. It was determined that she would be fine after a molt.

Friday, Megan and I went to the flight center to pick out an eagle for a release that evening at the TLC property. There was an immature flying very well so she was selected. Megan researched the band when we got it back to the clinic and realized it was "Dances".

At the release she did just fine. She was ready to go. The weather turned nice with a little sun, no rain or wind. She left the box, flew low level until she reached the bluff. Then she perched on top of a dead tree and decided to stay there and check things out for a bit. Everyone was able to get some nice last pictures before she took off for the rest of her life.

For more pictures, click on these links.....

Photo Credits: #1 & 4 Dave Dorsey / Bird TLC
Photo Credits: #2 & 3 Britt Coon / Bird TLC