Recovered bald eagle set free on Independence Day : News : ConnectMidMissouri.com

Recovered bald eagle set free on Independence Day

Posted: 07.04.2011 at 1:23 PM

Einstein, a bald eagle found pumped full of lead near Macon, was released Monday back into the wild after several months of rehabilitation. / University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine

A bald eagle, recovered near Macon, was set free on Monday after rehabilitation.

The eagle, named Einstein, came to the University of Missouri's Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital in April. A Missouri Department of Conservation agent found him struggling. Tests showed toxic levels of lead in his body, likely caused by the fish he ate.

The hospital set Einstein free at 10:30 Monday morning near the Missouri River at Eagle Bluffs Conservation Area south of Columbia.
The Independence Day release was planned when veterinary student Elizabeth Groth realized he would be ready for release around the holiday. Groth leads the University's Raptoro Rehabilitation Project.

Groth told the Columbia Tribune that she didn't think the rare bird would make it when he first arrived to the program.

She said Veterinarians pumped his digestive tract with water for several days and then started him on a protein-packed diet. Then, they started introducing small amounts of solid foods to his diet.

“The food motivation was good and bad,” she told the Columbia Tribune. “When we started switching him to live food, he was fairly aggressive and started to resist being handled. Good for him, bad for us.”

(The Associated Press and Columbia Tribune contributed to this report.)

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