Efforts to save wounded bird fail

        By Josh Humphries

  Rescuing wildlife has its ups and downs. One local rescuer watched a bald eagle, the  official bird of the United States, die this weekend from what she believed to be a gunshot wound.

  Success followed by tragedy.

  “Lincoln,” the female eagle that died this weekend, was found Thanksgiving Day by a hunter near Sheppard Mill Road.  She was starved and severely injured when Marti Brinson picked her up.  “I would guess that she was lying there for about a week.,” Brinson said.

   Brinson, who operated the Downeast Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, said Lincoln was covered in ants and insects when she reached her.  She had been sent to the spot by hunter Rich Goddard, who found the bird in a ditch near a catfish farm.

  The eagle was between 1-2 years old and still dependent on its parents for some things, Brinson said.  She took the bird to a veterinarian, whose x-rays revealed two shattered bones in the bird’s left wing.  Federal regulations say that eagles must be put down if they suffer from injures that do not allow them to have a full wing span or if they are missing an eye or a leg.  Brinson said.  Lincoln died Sunday before that became an issue.  If it is confirmed that a shooting led to the eagle’s death, it will be investigated by a federal wildlife agent.

  Brinson treated Kenney, another bald eagle, earlier this year and released it in Craven County. 

  Lincoln will be shipped to the National Eagle Repository where its remains will be disseminated to American Indian populations or to educational programs.