SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — A bald eagle may have a long road to recovery.
Over the weekend, someone noticed an eagle acting strangely in the woods in Sullivan County and called the Wildlife in Need Organization. The bird was taken to Red Creek Wildlife Center just outside of Schuylkill Haven. That's where the eagle initially tested positive for avian influenza. Peggy Hentz is the executive director at Red Creek Wildlife Center. She said the bird also tested so high for lead that it maxed out their levels.
"We couldn't run the lead test that night. It was too stressed out, and if we had examined the bird further, it could have actually caused its demise, so we let it rest overnight and ran the up-levels the next morning," Hentz said.
Now that the bald eagle population is on the rise, this female bald eagle may be the first of many who will be treated at the center for lead poisoning. Hentz said the primary cause of lead poisoning in bald eagles is the food they eat, deer.
"When a lead bullet goes through, they have measured about 18 inches out for the bullet track is lead dust. So if someone leaves the entrails behind, and there's lead dust in it, birds eat it. That type of thing. That's how they get it," said Hentz.
Bald eagles can get acute cases of lead poisoning after they eat a lot at one time. In female bald eagles like this one, lead poisoning can occur during mating season.
"When a female is about to lay eggs, the body will pull out the calcium out of her bones to form the eggshells, and with it comes the lead. And then all of a sudden, that low level of chronic lead poisoning that she's had for a long period of time becomes a massive acute lead poisoning," added Hentz.
According to officials at the wildlife center, treating this level of lead poisoning could take quite some time until the bald eagles' levels are normal again.