Okanagan firefighters rescue injured bald eagle

KELOWNA – Volunteer firefighters with North Westside Fire Rescue rescued a downed bird of prey in the Okanagan last evening.

A concerned resident called fire crews last night, July 6, about an injured bald eagle near the Kiliney Beach subdivision on the west side of Okanagan Lake, south of Vernon, according to a media release from the Regional District of the Central Okanagan. 

Not trained in handling birds of prey, rescue workers took direction from Wise Wildlife Control Services and used blankets to herd the eagle to an area where they could corral and capture it safely.

The eagle was placed in a large dog crate and was eventually picked up by the South Okanagan Owl Rehabilitation Centre.

North Westside Fire Rescue chief Jason Satterthwaite people from the Rehabilitation Centre couldn't see any obvious injuries.

"Feedback from them recently is it was malnourished for some reason, so it possibly could have been sick," he says. "Maybe it got into some poisoned mice or something."

The centre is hoping to nurse the bird back to health and release it back into the wild.

— With files from The Canadian Press

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