Five people gathered around an outdoor holding cage behind MSU's Veterinary Medical Center on Thursday morning to watch as an injured symbol of American freedom - and the center's latest patient - checked out of the center to be released back into the wild.
Wearing gloves to protect her arms from the 1-year-old bald eagle's talons, third-year veterinary medicine student Kim Stewart stepped into the eagle's outdoor holding area and was able to catch and place it into a large cardboard box.
The eagle will be released into the woods near a Boy Scout camp close to where it was found.
"There is plenty of hunting ground there," Stewart said. "And it will be good for the eagle because people are going to be there and there will be a second chance of someone finding her again if something else would ever happen to her."
Private Lands Wildlife biologist Gib King first spotted the injured eagle on the side of the road as he was driving last week near Claire County.
"It looked dazed and confused," King said.
Dr. James Sikarskie, a professor in the MSU's Veterinary Small Animal Hospital, said veterinary student volunteers at the clinic care for an average of three to four bald eagles each year.
Most likely, the bird had either been hit by a car or had flown into one while it was scavenging a dead deer on the side of the road, King said. Its right side appeared to be injured.
"The bird sat on my lap and it appeared to be very mellow and disoriented," King said. "The eagle was just sitting next to me in my truck at eye level and just looking around.
"I can only imagine what someone would have thought if they had seen that."
After several phone calls, King decided to bring the wounded animal to MSU's Veterinary Clinic for care and the eagle bounced back after it was treated with steroids for shock and head trauma.
"It is a good thing that Gib found the bird when he did, " Sikarskie said. "If it had stayed out on the road overnight, it might have died."
Sikarskie said each wild bird brought to the clinic is cared for so it can recover as quickly as possible.
"We don't keep the birds any longer than necessary," Sikarskie said. "We don't have large enough cages for them to get proper exercise, and after one or two weeks, the eagle's muscles are at risk of becoming weaker."
Sikarskie said the number of bald eagles has gone up dramatically in Michigan from the low point in the 1970s, when there were fewer than 100 bald eagles in the state.
Michigan now has close to 400 nesting pairs.
Stewart helped to care for the injured eagle, and she said the majority of the clinic's patients are young birds; hunting inexperience often causes them to be malnourished and more susceptible to injury or disease.
The injured animals sent to MSU play an important role in expanding the veterinary student's education, Stewart said.
"We get a lot of experience with wildlife animals," he said. "We also get some confidence, because we know that we can safely catch and handle animals."
