An injured bald eagle found last week near Salinas with a broken bone may also be suffering from electrocution, according to the SPCA Monterey County Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.
A resident found the raptor on Dec. 21 in a backyard south of Encinal Road near some fields, said Beth Brookhouser, spokesperson for SPCA Monterey County.
The eagle suffered a broken coracoid, a bone that connects a bird’s shoulder to its keel to enable flight. Its prognosis is guarded because the wildlife care team believes the bird may have been electrocuted by a power line.
“Electrocution is a slow-developing injury that takes several days or even weeks to see the severity,” Brookhouser said Monday.
The nonprofit’s wildlife treatment team was encouraged when the eagle, believed to be an adult male, started eating again on Sunday.
The eagle is weighed daily, given fluids and taken out of his ICU cage periodically for physical therapy. The bird’s treatment team handles the bird as little as possible, however.
“We try to handle them as infrequently as possible because he is a wild animal and we don’t want him to like us at all,” Brookhouser said.
Bald eagles are thriving in the central California coast area, according to the Ventana Wildlife Society. From 1986 to 2000, the society released 70 juvenile Bald Eagles at its private wildlife sanctuary in Big Sur, the society said on its website.