Now this is SCARY...The Eagle that can't fly anymore!

[Moose1am]

I found this story in my local paper this morning. I cut and pasted it for you to read. I normally would put a link to the article but you have to sign in to my online version of the local paper and that can stop some from viewing the article. So here is the text version. Something to really think about if you eat a lot of fish these days.

---------------------------------------------

Courtesy of Brad Feaster

PRINT THIS STORY | E-MAIL THIS STORY
Eagle soars after mercury kept him from rising
By STEVE FORD, Staff writer
July 31, 2005
Bald eagles are meant to soar, swoop and be regal. It's expected of our striking national emblem.
For the moment, we can all feel good about one adult female bald eagle that was found flightless and physically failing in a Posey County bean field. It since has been returned to the skies.

It's a feel-good story for the many involved in its recovery - as well as for the rest of us, so moved when we see any bald eagle in adult plumage in the wild. They're incredible birds.
But there's also a dark side to the story that won't go away in the short term, only worsen. It concerns the root of the eagle's ills - mercury poisoning.
First, though, consider all the men who helped give this story a happy ending, even if it might only be temporary.
It started more than a month ago when farmer Kevin Aldrich saw an adult eagle on the ground while spraying beans. It was in a field adjacent to the Wabash River in Posey County, almost due west of Mount Vernon. The bird was unable to fly as Aldrich approached, so he called his son, K.C.
"We tried to catch it, but couldn't," said K.C. Aldrich, who farms with his father. "So, we decided to call (Posey County conservation officer) Paul Axton, who called the guys at Hovey Lake. But they couldn't catch it, either."
The bird couldn't fly, but escaped by scrambling down the high bank to the Wabash, where it entered the water.
"That was my first call on a bald eagle," said Axton. "It had the drooping wings that are typical in the waterfowl I've seen with lead poisoning."
So everyone abandoned the chase, but came back the next day with a better plan. Hovey workers Fred Bebout, Donnie Hast and Larry Merritt brought a boat and chased the eagle into the water, where it was easily captured.
"That's the fun part of this job," said Brad Feaster, the assistant property manager at Hovey. "It's not every day you get to see a real, live bald eagle up close, let alone hold one."
Feaster, Hovey property manager Mark Pochon and John Castrale, a non-game biologist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, banded the bird and took it to Evansville veterinarian Gregg Gormley, a registered wildlife rehabilitator.
"It was the second eagle I've worked with," said Gormley. "The first one hit a power line up around Patoka Lake and injured its wing.
"That was easy to diagnose. But there were no injuries with this bird. It was weak and couldn't fly and its wings were drooping, which is consistent with lead poisoning. But when we tested for that, it was fine. The mercury level was critically high, though. It was two parts per million, when .4 parts per million is considered dangerous."
So Gormley treated the bird for a week with a mercury poisoning antidote and force-fed to ensure it got enough to eat. Then eagle then was sent to another wildlife rehabilitator, Wild Care Inc. in Bloomington, for a week.
"After a week with Wild Care, we brought it back and reintroduced it into the wild," said Gormley. "It was doing fine when we let it go, but who knows what will happen to it in the future? "It's going right back into the environment where it ate the tainted fish."
While there are no mercury warnings on consuming fish from the Wabash River, there are plenty of area lakes - Patoka is one, don't eat the bluegill! - where mercury is an acknowledged problem.
"It would be speculation to say where the tainted fish came from," said Feaster. "It was more likely an accumulation over time from a variety of locations. Mercury in the environment is a concern for all of us."
Said Gormley: "This is an indication of what can happen at the top of the food chain. And mercury is cumulative. This probably won't be the last time."
But for now, at least, one eagle is soaring over the Wabash River.
"I saw it in the air this week," said K.C. Aldrich. "I'm sure it was the same bird. It was just at the other end of the field where we found (and released) it. I hope to see it again."
We all do, but for how long?


----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Barnacle Bill]

I'm glad that had a happy ending at least for now. I have a small collection of eagle statues that my wife has gotten for me over the years, until I found out how much she was paying for them. They are beautiful, but enough is enough.

[labill]

Good article, Moose...thanks for posting it.

[Eager Beaver]

We have a local lake here that has a warning on it that your not to comsume any fish from it because the Mercury level is so high. The DNR allowed a developer to build houses around the lake and now they think the herbicides and pesticides they used on their lawns is in the water now.

[DENNIS BOWERS]

Pretty interesting - makes you stop an think!!

[Bruce Carp]

thanks for sharing the success story!

[Moose1am]

Here is some even better news. AlCOA and VECTREN the power company that owns half of one of the boilers that produces the electricity for making Aluminum at the ALCOA plant in Newburh IN are going to be remodeling their older power plant boilers and smoke stacks. They are adding a new scrubber system. The old smoke stacks will be torn down and a brand new stack will be constructed. Or they may just reroute the ductworks from all the boilers to just one of the smoke stacks. This will make it easier to scrub the pollutants out of the exhause gases from the boilers and clean the air before it's put out of the smoke stack

The result will be a 98% reduction in Sulfur Dioxide, HCL emissions. And a reduction of approx 40 to 60 % of the mercury emitted out of these smoke stacks. This will go a long ways in helping to reduce the mercury getting into the local environement and will further reduce the effects of acid rain downwind of the smoke stack. Remember that these exhaust gases have been traced all the way to Eastern TN and North Caroline and have impacted the trees in the Great Smokey Mountains.

ALCOA is doing the right thing now and I really must congratulate them on spending $400 MILLION dollars on this project to protect the environement. They will be hiring many local construction workers to help build these new pollution controls and after the units are finished they will be hiring another 25 full time employees to help run the new equipment.

That is really good news for everyone. Of course our electric rates will be increased some but I think it's worth the extra cost. I don't mind paying a few extra dollars to get clean air and clearer water.

thanks for sharing the success story!