A bald eagle rescued by Harford County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control on Tuesday has died after being transported to Chadwell Animal Hospital in Abingdon for treatment.

Animal control personnel responded to the 1900 block of Perryman Road, in Aberdeen, at 11:43 p.m. On the side of the road, officers found the eagle in a “dazed state, likely injured after being struck by a vehicle or colliding with something while chasing prey,” according to a Facebook post from the sheriff’s office.

The eagle remained calm as officers worked to secure it for transport, the post said, and it was taken by van to Chadwell Animal Hospital in Abingdon for examination. The Harford County Sheriff’s Office was notified Wednesday morning that the eagle did not survive.

In its own Facebook post, the animal hospital noted that the eagle, which veterinarians identified as female, had suffered severe head trauma that led to its death.

Cristie Hopkins, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said Chadwell Animal Hospital was selected because it routinely handles exotic animals, including birds, reptiles and amphibians, and has the equipment to treat avian wildlife. “These services are not provided at all local animal hospitals as they are a very specific skill,” she said.

Hopkins said that when an injured wild animal is found in Harford County, citizens should refrain from touching it and contact the sheriff’s office. Animal control personnel, who are permitted to handle animals that are injured, sick or orphaned, will then be dispatched.

But in instances where wildlife may be causing a disturbance, such as breaking into homes or rummaging through trash, Hopkins encouraged residents to call the Department of Natural Resources nuisance hotline at 1-877-463-6497.

Dave Brinker, a regional ecologist with Maryland DNR, agreed that animal control is the best option to call upon discovering an injured wild animal, as direct calls to DNR are more for wildlife nuisances.

“Animal control is usually the best local source because they can respond relatively quickly, and hopefully all the county animal controls know the contact numbers for the folks in DNR or the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,” he said.

The animal control unit of the Harford County Sheriff's Office, transported the bald eagle to Chadwell Animal Hospital where it later died due to complications from its injuries. (Harford County Sheriff's Office/Courtesy)
The animal control unit of the Harford County Sheriff’s Office, transported the bald eagle to Chadwell Animal Hospital where it later died due to complications from its injuries. (Harford County Sheriff’s Office/Courtesy)

Brinker explained that bald eagle deaths reported to either the DNR or the FWS are eventually logged with both agencies. Often, but not always, reported bald eagle carcasses are sent away for testing to determine a cause of death.

“It’s part of our typical wildlife health monitoring. We might want to know if the eagle died from lead poisoning, for example, which causes neurological issues and might have a bird down near the roadside behaving in a way that ends up being to its detriment,” Brinker said.

In other cases, carcasses in better condition are frozen and eventually donated to American Indians for use in cultural practices, he explained, under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, a federal regulation.

As of Thursday, Chadwell Animal Hospital had not surrendered the bald eagle to DNR or FWS. An employee said the hospital is handling the disposal of the carcass.

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