BANGOR, Maine — If the eagle dubbed “Bangor Mom” by state biologists was a cat, it would be down to seven lives.
The female bald eagle that made headlines in 2014 when it was the subject of a rescue after ingesting an unknown toxin once again found itself at a Freedom bird rehabilitation center on Thursday. But the prognosis wasn’t good.
James Morang, his girlfriend, Aleesha Cooper, and friend Jeff Joseph were searching along the Kenduskeag Stream for their missing friend, 29-year-old Paul Francis III, about 11 a.m. Thursday when Cooper spotted the sick eagle near the footbridge behind Penquis CAP, Morang said by phone.
“Sure enough, we looked at it, and we watched it for a little, and we thought, ‘It doesn’t look right,’” Morang said Thursday.
The bird did not fly off when they approached. It was very still and seemed only to be able to blink.
The group called the Maine Warden Service for help and kept watch until a pair of game wardens arrived, Morang said.
Because the wardens only had a net, a carrier and animal handling gloves, Joseph lent his jacket to the effort. The jacket was wrapped around the bird to calm it until it could be placed inside the carrier.
“It was awesome. It was well worth it,” Morang said.
The eagle was taken to Avian Haven, a rehabilitation center in Freedom that specializes in injured and orphaned wild birds.
“The wardens said it was the same eagle that was poisoned there [several] years ago,” Morang said, adding that they referred to her as “the momma eagle.”
A Facebook post Thursday night by Avian Haven confirmed it was the same bird.
The eagle was found disoriented on a Bangor sidewalk on May 11, 2014. Its mate, also apparently ill, was electrocuted hours later. Observers said the male lost its grip on a branch and tumbled into a power line.
“An adult female bald eagle who spent some time with us several years ago came back to us this evening with severe lead poisoning. We know her as ‘Mom Bangor’ — the mother of two eaglets who were rescued from their Kenduskeag Avenue nest in 2014 after both parents became ill. The eaglets grew up strong and healthy at Avian Haven and were released, as was Mom,” the post stated.
“Today Mom Bangor was found in a very debilitated state on a branch along the Kenduskeag Stream. … Warden Rick Ouellette and IF&W Biologist Brad Allen were able to easily capture her and get her to Avian Haven,” the post stated.
According to the bird rehabilitation specialists, the eagle is very thin and weighs less than when it was released in 2014.
“Her X-ray shows no metal fragments remaining in her GI tract, but her blood lead level is off the scale of our screening instrument. She is already exhibiting the respiratory distress characteristic of advanced lead poisoning,” the post said.
“We are heartbroken to see her like this. We’ve given her fluids and chelation therapy, and made her comfortable, but the prognosis for Mom Bangor is not good,” the post said. “Please keep her in your thoughts, and we will let you know how she is in the morning.”