{"id":146556,"date":"2025-05-31T10:24:17","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T10:24:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/146556\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T10:24:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T10:24:17","slug":"majestic-animal-dangling-from-tree-gets-a-daring-midnight-rescue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/146556\/","title":{"rendered":"Majestic Animal Dangling From Tree Gets A Daring Midnight Rescue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sun was already setting when Loudoun County Animal Services<\/a>\u00a0(LCAS) Officer Tina Hernandez responded to an after-hours call a few weeks ago. Locals spotted a bird hanging by his wing from a tree. Arriving on the scene, Officer Hernandez soon realized she would need some backup. The bird was an adult bald eagle, his wing caught in fishing wire, dangling 25 feet in the air.<\/p>\n

Blue Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

As it got darker, Chief Chris Brosan from LCAS arrived with a ladder, tree trimmers, a net and a blanket. Both he and Officer Hernandez focused on freeing the eagle quickly while causing as little stress as possible, which proved tricky.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever we started going up the ladder to see if we could get near him, he started panicking,\u201d Officer Hernandez told The Dodo.<\/p>\n

Loudoun County Animal Services<\/p>\n

Most eagle rescues in Officer Hernandez\u2019s 14 years of service have involved birds on the ground, immobilized by poison or injury. \u201cYou can just walk up to them, put the net on, put the blanket on,\u201d Officer Hernandez said. \u201cI think this might be the first one we’ve ever had that was dangling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, after careful maneuvering, Chief Brosan cut the eagle free, and Officer Hernandez caught the bird using the net and blanket.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was too big for our big cat carriers, so we kind of just kept him covered,\u201d she said. \u201cThe big thing you have to worry about is his talons and his beak \u2026 Even though he was drained from hanging and fighting [for] so long, he was still very feisty, very strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Safely secured in one of LCAS\u2019 vehicles, which are equipped with large caging systems, officers drove the eagle to Kristi\u2019s Caring Hands Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education<\/a>, a local wildlife rehabilitation center owned and operated by Kristi Titus. The eagle arrived lying on his stomach in the crate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gave him a quick exam, but I knew I could not do anything for him,\u201d Titus told The Dodo. In the morning, Titus had her \u201cbest transporter\u201d deliver the eagle to the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center<\/a> for medical care.<\/p>\n

Blue Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

According to a Facebook post<\/a> from the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center, this poor eagle had a swollen wing tip and \u201csevere droop,\u201d meaning one wing hung lower than the other. The medical staff also discovered the eagle had lead poisoning. They administered anti-inflammatories for his wing and chelation therapy to eradicate the poison.<\/p>\n

Several weeks after his harrowing rescue in the dark, the eagle is on the mend. It truly took a village to bring this bird to safety. Officer Hernandez checks in on him periodically and says he\u2019s doing well.<\/p>\n

Blue Ridge Wildlife Center<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s kind of like a neighbor of ours,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen he’s healthy and ready to go \u2026 we all get to go out and then release [him] at [his] location. And this one is right down the road from the animal shelter. So, I think we’re going to make it a field trip for everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you want to learn more about the Humane Law Enforcement team at Loudoun County Animal Services, check out their website<\/a>!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to support the volunteers at Kristi\u2019s Caring Hands Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education, you can do so on her Facebook page<\/a>!<\/p>\n

\"Orphaned<\/a>Orphaned Seal Pup Surprises Rescuers With What She’s Hiding Under Her Fur\u201cWe were all really surprised \u2014 and of course excited!\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sun was already setting when Loudoun County Animal Services\u00a0(LCAS) Officer Tina Hernandez responded to an after-hours call…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[63038,1716,30503,61840,70,1715,1713,16,15,1717,6375],"class_list":{"0":"post-146556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-bald-eagles","9":"tag-daily-dodo","10":"tag-eagle","11":"tag-sarah-ashley","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-standard","14":"tag-the-dodo","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wildlife","18":"tag-wildlife-rescue"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114601962095131118","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}