Lady Baltimore was a non-releasable bald eagle in the care of the non-profit Juneau Raptor Center (JRC), in Juneau, Alaska. [1] Lady Baltimore was found shot and injured on Alaska's Douglas Island in 2006. She had suffered injuries to her beak and one wing caused by a poacher. The injury to her beak caused the retina in her left eye to become detached, blinding her in that eye. Because of these injuries she had no depth perception, and could not be released into the wild. [2]
Lady Baltimore was found after a failed poaching, which left her alive but severely injured. Volunteers with the Juneau Raptor Center rescued her, after an estimated 2 weeks of surviving her injuries on her own. JRC volunteers found her to be malnourished, and determined that she could not survive on her own, because her injuries caused her to aim her body poorly when flying and hunting. [2] Since then, Lady Baltimore had been cared for year-round by JRC. During the summer tourist season she was put on display as an educational animal in a mew created and maintained by JRC, at the Mount Roberts Tramway on Mount Roberts. [3]
In 2019, the Mount Roberts Tramway and other donors paid for a new mew. The new habitat was larger, and provided better viewing for both visitors as well as the eagle. [4]
However, in 2022, Lady Baltimore's host, the Juneau Raptor Center, ended operations. As a result, Lady Baltimore was moved along with one other eagle to the Alaska Raptor Center in Sitka. [5]
In February, 2024, staff at the Alaska Raptor Center discovered that Lady Baltimore's health had deteriorated to the point where she no longer had a good quality of life. She was subsequently euthanized. [6]
The bald eagle is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle, which occupies the same niche as the bald eagle in the Palearctic. Its range includes most of Canada and Alaska, all of the contiguous United States, and northern Mexico. It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting.
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus Aquila. Most of the 68 species of eagles are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, just 14 species can be found—two in North America, nine in Central and South America, and three in Australia.
The great grey owl is a true owl, and is the world's largest species of owl by length. It is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere, and it is the only species in the genus Strix found in both Eastern and Western Hemispheres. In some areas it is also called the Phantom of the North, cinereous owl, spectral owl, Lapland owl, spruce owl, bearded owl, and sooty owl.
War Eagle is a battle cry, yell, or motto of Auburn University and supporters of Auburn University sports teams. War Eagle is a greeting or salutation among the Auburn Family. It is also the title of the university's fight song and the name of the university's golden eagle.
The Alaska Raptor Center, formerly the Alaska Raptor Rehabilitation Center, is a raptor rehabilitation center in Sitka in the U.S. state of Alaska. Located on a 17–acre campus bordering the Tongass National Forest and the Indian River. The mission of the Alaska Raptor Center is to promote and enhance wild populations of raptors and other avian species through rehabilitation, education and research. Although the main patients are raptors, especially bald eagles, the center will take any bird in need of care. The Alaska Raptor Center receives between 100–200 birds a year, with many suffering from some sort of trauma. They have treated birds with injuries from electrocution, collisions, gunshot wounds, leg hold traps, starvation, disease and lead poisoning.
The Goldbelt Tram is an aerial tramway located directly south of downtown Juneau in the U.S. state of Alaska. In operation since 1996, the tram makes a six-minute ascent of 3,819-foot (1,164 m) up Mount Roberts from the cruise ship docks to a height of about 1,800 feet (550 m).
Mount Juneau is a 3,576-foot (1,090 m) massif in Southeast Alaska just one and a half miles (2.4 km) east of downtown Juneau, Alaska, in the Boundary Ranges.
The Cascades Raptor Center is a nature center and wildlife hospital in Eugene, Oregon that specializes in raptor rehabilitation. As of November 2020, permanent inhabitants of the center include 37 individual birds from 21 species.
Jean Keene, also known as the Eagle Lady, was a former rodeo trick rider who became the subject of national attention due to her feeding of wild bald eagles on the Homer Spit in Homer, Alaska. Although she had many supporters for the feedings, she was also criticized for drawing a large population of eagles to the area. After her death, the city of Homer passed a law prohibiting the feeding of predatory birds.
The National Eagle Center is a nonprofit educational, interpretive center and museum located on the banks of the Mississippi River in Wabasha, Minnesota, United States, that focuses on education about eagles and the Upper Mississippi River watershed. In addition to opportunities to view wild eagles throughout the year from viewing decks, non-releasable bald eagles are on exhibit at the center as well as interactive exhibits on eagle science and history.
Raptor Education Group, Inc (REGI) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in Antigo, Wisconsin, United States, dedicated to caring for injured or orphaned avian wildlife. It works with and temporarily cares for birds from endangered or threatened species "for rehabilitation and educational purposes."
The eagle eye is among the sharpest in the animal kingdom, with an eyesight estimated at 4 to 8 times stronger than that of the average human. Although an eagle may only weigh 4.5 kilograms (10 lb), its eyes are roughly the same size as those of a human. Eagle weight varies: a small eagle could weigh 700 grams (1.5 lb), while a larger one could weigh 6.5 kilograms (14 lb); an eagle of about 4.5 kilograms (9.9 lb) weight could have eyes as big as that of a human who weighs 91 kilograms (200 lb). Although the size of the eagle eye is about the same as that of a human being, the back side shape of the eagle eye is flatter. Their eyes are stated to be larger than their brain, by weight. Color vision with resolution and clarity are the most prominent features of eagles' eyes, hence sharp-sighted people are sometimes referred to as "eagle-eyed". Eagles can identify five distinctly colored squirrels and locate their prey even if hidden.
The Juneau Raptor Center (JRC) was a raptor rehabilitation center in Juneau in the U.S. state of Alaska. Founded in 1987 and located in the Tongass National Forest, its mission was the rehabilitation of sick and injured eagles, hawks, falcons, owls, ravens, hummingbirds and other avian wildlife brought in from Juneau and Southeast Alaska. The JRC was licensed by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to handle eagles and migratory birds, and was governed in part by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.
Juneau Mountain Rescue (JMR) is a mountain search and rescue agency, located in Juneau, Alaska, United States. JMR is a member of the Alaska Search and Rescue Association, and facilitates rescues involving wilderness terrain, rope rescues on rock faces, ice and snow fields, glaciers, and during avalanches, medical evacuations, missing persons cases, aircraft crashes and other disasters. An all-volunteer organization, JMR coordinates with Capital City Fire/Rescue, the Juneau Police Department, the Alaska State Troopers, the United States Coast Guard, and other emergency response agencies during search and rescue operations.
Capital City Fire/Rescue (CCFR) provides fire suppression and emergency medical services to the city of Juneau, Alaska, United States.
Mary Lou King is an American environmental activist, educator, and writer.
The OWL Rehabilitation Society is a wildlife rescue and raptor rehabilitation centre permitted to care for sick, injured, and orphaned birds of prey which includes eagles, falcons, hawks, ospreys, owls, and vultures. OWL is located in Delta, British Columbia, Canada.
The Bird Treatment and Learning Center is a wildlife rehabilitation center based in Anchorage, Alaska. It was founded in the 1980s by a veterinarian James R. Scott, and some of its early activities were funded partially by money given to Scott by Exxon in the wake of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The center started to move their operations to Potter Marsh in the second half of the 2010s.
One Wing was a bald eagle injured during the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He ingested crude oil and, during the resuce process, fought his would-be-rescuers and broke his own wing. As a result it was amputated, and he lived out the rest of his life at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage. He served as a blood donor for other birds injured in the oil spill.