LI Rescuers Hope To Get Injured Bald Eagle, 'Libby,' Back Up In Sky
CORAM, NY — A group of Long Island animal rescuers are hoping an injured Bald Eagle rescued from a busy roadway in Coram on Thursday will be back up in the sky in no time.
A witness saw the bird clipped by the sideview mirror of a truck and it was in distress on the median of Route 112 at around 10:30 a.m., and bystanders and police kept the bird contained so she would not go into traffic until Frankie Floridia of Strong Island Rescue arrived.
When Floridia arrived, the bird was standing with her wings out as though she wanted to fly away.
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“That would be a problem because she would be injured and now out in the wild, and then something worse can happen,” Floridia said. “She could have taken a nosedive into a car or it could have gotten worse. When you know animals in distress like that you quickly want to contain it.”
Within seconds, the bird could have been up in a tree with no way to get her, but Floridia was able to get a towel over the bird and get her safely into a carrier.
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“Eagles are never down with people around them, and it let somebody wrap a towel around it,” That’s shock and distress. A wild animal never lets somebody just pick it up. I had my net. I had everything ready; my gloves. I was just able to wrap a towel around or pick her up.”
The bird was given a full evaluation at the Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown and deemed to be in good health the exception of the eye injury, which includes a bloodshot third eyelid and blindness, Floridia said.
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The bird, now named “Liberty” or “Libby, for short will likely see a veterinarian that specializes in opthalmology, and there is hope that she will be able to return to her nest where her mate could be waiting with eggs, according to Floridia.
“We’ll be working to get her eye better and get her back in the sky again as soon as possible,” he said.
Floridia noted it has been a busy few weeks with multiple rescues, including two pet turkey saved from rising flood water in Bayport, a raccoon with a jar stuck on its head, a cat with a bad wound, and dogs kept outside in the cold.
All of the rescues are made possible with donations from the public.
“That’s what keeps us going,” he said.
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