Thanks to a little tender loving care from a Monmouth man, a bald eagle is expected to fly away once again after recovering from an injury.
President of Western Illinois Animal Rescue Dan Porter tells WGIL he found the endangered bird in a field just North of Rozetta Township in Henderson County late yesterday afternoon.
“It was my first ever and probably last eagle rescue,” Porter said laughing.
The man believes the animal was struck by a car and likely would have been the prey of coyotes, that is, had he not sat with it for more than four hours and gotten special permission from the Department of Natural Resources to eventually capture the bird.
Because the DNR couldn’t get to the bird until early this morning, Porter brought the bird back to his shop in Monmouth and kept it warm overnight.
“To be honest with you, I didn’t think it was going to make it. By the time we got back here with it, it was laying on its side in the cage. I checked on it several times throughout the night and at about five this morning it was back on its feet acting like it was feeling pretty good.”
Porter says animal control has transported the bird to Wildlife Prairie Park in Hanna City, where it will begin rehabilitation for recovery prior to being transferred to the University of Illinois for further treatment. He adds that the experience was “once in a lifetime.”
