Pet Lovers

[mintedrose]

Hi everyone, Sammy is a one wing eagle who was stolen a few days ago from the wildlife rescue for injured animals. He was shot in 1988 and has only one wing. There is a prize for it to be found. Please help spread the word. 

Im so bloody angry and my heart hurts and im praying that this bird is returned unharmed!!! 

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/23/us/sammy-bald-eagle-trnd/index.html

[Jaspersmom]

I live near this wildlife center and this is a big story on Long Island.  There's a substantial reward for Sammy's return.  I just don't understand people who do things like this.  Very distressing. 

[MoonieBaby]

HUMANS LIKE THIS - ARE SCUM - I hope those resposible lose an ARM.

[mintedrose]

I am so angry and was unable to sleep all night when i heard this. Im also very upset at the organization for not having proper measures to protect wildlife. They gotta be prepared for things like this and with all the technology these days I am seriously baffled that anyone could just walk right up and take a beautiful valuable bird like that.

Were the rangers asleep? The thief had to have taken some time to cut the fence and how come no body heard anything? Why are there no cameras and why is nobody watching them? All these questions just boggle my mind and again in this day and age where technology is so easily accessible. Why even run a rescue if you cant protect the wildlife? And dont even complain about donations because there are so many generous people out there who are ready to donate to good causes as we do.

This is just irresponsible imo. My heart hurts. 

[gardenman]

Of all the things someone could steal it would never occur to me that someone would steal a bald eagle. I get that there's some value in the feathers and whatnot, but cutting through two fences, and then handling a bird that's big and can be kind of nasty if you don't know what you're doing is more than a little weird. Could it be an inside job? Someone who felt the refuge wasn't treating the bird properly?

There are a lot of easier things to steal and make a profit from than a bald eagle. And if all you want are the feathers, bald eagles  are relatively common in much of the country these days. A lot of their nests are even marked on maps and online, so it's not like they're hard to find. It would be a lot easier to take a gun, shoot one in its nest and then take the feathers than to cut through two fences and make off with a somewhat hard to handle bird. My gut says it was more than likely an inside job of some sort.

Tangling with a full grown bald eagle is not a fun thing to do. They seem to be presuming the bird is alive which means there wasn't evidence it had been shot. There apparently wasn't any blood of the thief which implies he or she was properly equpped to handle the bird. My gut says it was an inside job for some reason. Maybe a staffer was moving and wanted to take the bird with him/her. Maybe they felt the bird was being abused in the facility. I don't know, but I find it hard to believe someone was that determined to steal a bald eagle just for the feathers. If I was the police, I'd be having long, long chats with the staffers.

[countrylady]

Was eagle returned?   Unharmed, I  hope.

[katiescarlett]

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@gardenman wrote:

Of all the things someone could steal it would never occur to me that someone would steal a bald eagle. I get that there's some value in the feathers and whatnot, but cutting through two fences, and then handling a bird that's big and can be kind of nasty if you don't know what you're doing is more than a little weird. Could it be an inside job? Someone who felt the refuge wasn't treating the bird properly?

There are a lot of easier things to steal and make a profit from than a bald eagle. And if all you want are the feathers, bald eagles  are relatively common in much of the country these days. A lot of their nests are even marked on maps and online, so it's not like they're hard to find. It would be a lot easier to take a gun, shoot one in its nest and then take the feathers than to cut through two fences and make off with a somewhat hard to handle bird. My gut says it was more than likely an inside job of some sort.

Tangling with a full grown bald eagle is not a fun thing to do. They seem to be presuming the bird is alive which means there wasn't evidence it had been shot. There apparently wasn't any blood of the thief which implies he or she was properly equpped to handle the bird. My gut says it was an inside job for some reason. Maybe a staffer was moving and wanted to take the bird with him/her. Maybe they felt the bird was being abused in the facility. I don't know, but I find it hard to believe someone was that determined to steal a bald eagle just for the feathers. If I was the police, I'd be having long, long chats with the staffers.

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I have a friend who worked at a bird sanctuary and rehabilitation facility.  She said more than likely the bird was struck with something that killed it otherwise it would have been difficult to handle the bird much less put it in a duffle bag.

And by the way, to suggest that it would be easier to shoot an eagle to get the feathers, here is the law:

The Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, passed in 1940, prohibits "pursuing, shooting, shooting at, poisoning, wounding, killing capturing, trapping, collecting, molesting, or disturbing" a bald or golden eagle. It's is also illegal to "possess, sell, purchase, barter, offer to sell, offer to purchase or barter, transport ... any bald eagle... alive, dead, or any part, nest or egg thereof."

Authorities in PA are searching for the person who shot and killed a bald eagle in July. Fines can be thousands of dollars and two years in prison.  There is an exception for owning feathers for Native Americans of a federally recognized tribe.