2008 Woodie Awards
Care to Comment
... on this bald eagle's bionic beak replacement?
Issue date: 5/8/08 Section: Opinion
Beauty, a 15-pound American bald eagle was found in 2005 scrounging for food and slowly starving to death at a landfill in Alaska. Most of her curved upper beak had been blown away by a gunshot, leaving her tongue and sinuses exposed. She could not clutch or eat food. She was taken to a recovery center in Anchorage, where she was hand-fed for two years while her caretakers waited in vain for a new beak to grow.
"They had exhausted their resources and she would likely be euthanized," said biologist Jane Fink Cantwell, Beauty's current caretaker. Beauty was taken to Cantwell's Birds of Prey Northwest ranch in St. Maries, Idaho, in 2007.She has spent the past two years assembling a team to design and build an artificial beak. They plan to attach it to Beauty this month.
Molds were made of the existing beak parts and scanned into a computer, so the bionic beak could be created as accurately as possible. The artificial beak won't be strong enough to allow Beauty to cut and tear flesh from prey. But it will help her to drink water, and to grip and eat the food she is given.
While birds of prey are notoriously skittish around humans, Beauty has become somewhat comfortable with people. She allows herself to be carried by Cantwell, and tolerate the poking and prodding by those making the beak.
"She will be a huge educational tool," Cantwell said. "Give me an hour with a third or sixth grader and they will never shoot a raptor."
What do you think about this story? Write to us at: psucollegio@gmail.com
"They had exhausted their resources and she would likely be euthanized," said biologist Jane Fink Cantwell, Beauty's current caretaker. Beauty was taken to Cantwell's Birds of Prey Northwest ranch in St. Maries, Idaho, in 2007.She has spent the past two years assembling a team to design and build an artificial beak. They plan to attach it to Beauty this month.
Molds were made of the existing beak parts and scanned into a computer, so the bionic beak could be created as accurately as possible. The artificial beak won't be strong enough to allow Beauty to cut and tear flesh from prey. But it will help her to drink water, and to grip and eat the food she is given.
While birds of prey are notoriously skittish around humans, Beauty has become somewhat comfortable with people. She allows herself to be carried by Cantwell, and tolerate the poking and prodding by those making the beak.
"She will be a huge educational tool," Cantwell said. "Give me an hour with a third or sixth grader and they will never shoot a raptor."
What do you think about this story? Write to us at: psucollegio@gmail.com
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