A northwest Iowa organization that treats sick, injured or orphaned wildlife has launched an “Eagle Legacy” campaign.
Gretchen Gondeck, a spokesperson for the Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic in Woodbury County, said the focus is on educating hunters on how choosing lead-free ammunition can help protect bald eagles. “The eagles will eat dead animals and they will consume fragments of lead bullets and they will have a long, lingering horrible death,” Gondeck said, “so we would encourage people to not buy lead ammunition.”
The group “Save Our Avian Resources” or SOAR is a partner in the effort. Kay Neumann, a member of that group, said eagles and other raptors typically feed on live animals, but during fall and winter they will scavange through things like deer and bird carcases that could be loaded with lead shot. “Forever Wildlife Lodge and Clinic helps us by doing the rescues in this area. They have volunteers that will go out and safely rescue injured raptors that are found,” Neumann said. “…They’ll hang onto them, give some initial care, fluids, some initial food and then we’ll transport.”
If an eagle has been sickened after eating lead, it can be cured if it’s promptly found and treated, but its full recovery typically takes months. Neumann said lead shot fragments are also a danger to humans. “We started x-raying ground venison that was going to food pantries,” Neumann said, “and finding lead fragments in that also.”
A fundraiser will be held in Sioux City on October 17 at the Lewis and Clark Center to raise funds for the wildlife center, to cover the expense of rescuing, treating and transporting injured birds and other animals.
