Seems a farmer in a neighboring country was in his field and witnessed this bird lose a fight with another eagle. When he crashed to the ground, the farmer called DNR, who picked up the bird and brought him to LWR. He was a small male, with puncture wounds to the left wing and right thigh, consistent with being held by—and flung from—another eagle’s talons. X-rays at Smalley’s Animal Hospital revealed no fractures, amazingly, and since we were only dealing with puncture wounds that, with meds, should heal fairly quickly, DNR and FWS agreed to allow LWR to keep the bird rather than transport it to UGA’s Wildlife Clinic.
The week before Easter, an adult great horned owl came in, with all the flesh gone from his left wing. I mean, even the muscles were gone—it was exposed bone and tendons. Sadly, we can’t regrow muscle, so he required euthanasia.