Raptor apparently fought canine near Klukwan
A mature bald eagle rescued after an apparent fight with another animal near Klukwan died Tuesday at the American Bald Eagle Foundation.
The small male eagle was spotted near the village dump Monday, about a quarter-mile from the end of the main village road called Chilkat Avenue. Village administrator Brian Willard got a call about it around noon Monday.
“There was blood all over. There was blood in the road and on both sides of the road,” Willard said. Willard notified state trooper Andrew Neason, who, like others, believed the bird found covered in blood and lying on its back was dead.
Tracks, blood and feathers at the scene suggested the eagle had fought with a dog or coyote at two different locations and had come to rest about 50 yard from the scenes of one of the scuffles.
“It was lying on its back. It looked like it was dead. I was taking pictures of the scene for about 10 minutes when it turned its head and looked at me,” Neason said.
Neason said the eagle was docile as he rolled it into a box and took it to the foundation. Workers there found one leg broken about six inches above a talon, three puncture wounds to the bird’s abdomen, and muscle torn away from a wing.
The bird wasn’t emaciated, suggesting its injuries were recent, they said. Its core temperature was low, however, and it also appeared to be suffering from internal bleeding – possibly from its abdomen – as blood was flowing from a gland that secretes a type of wax eagles spread on their wings.
Leia Minch, foundation education and outreach coordinator, said a “plethora of things” may have happened to the bird, and one possibility is that it was injured in a collision – then preyed upon.
“It would be very unusual if not impossible for a healthy eagle to be attacked by a dog. The eagle must have been injured previously,” Minch said. The puncture wounds looked like small tooth marks and could be the bites of a dog or coyote, she said.
As she tended to the injured bird Monday – splinting its broken leg and injecting it with a type of saline solution – Minch pulled off a tuft of whitish fur, which might be a clue to the identity of its attacker, she said.
Minch said the amount of blood on the eagle and reported at the scene suggested the eagle may have taken a good bite out of its attacker. “We haven’t found any (injury on the eagle) that would contribute to such a large loss of blood.”
The eagle died Monday night, before it could be shipped for veterinary care.
Minch said it would be sent to the National Eagle Repository in Denver, Colo., where eagle remains are sometimes salvaged for use in Native American ceremonies.
Tribal administrator Willard said despite the concentration of birds around the village, which is located within the Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve – finds like Monday’s are rare. “Growing up here as a kid, I never saw a dead eagle.”