On the mend: Injured bald eagle found after recent Kansas tornadoes is recovering
A bald eagle found injured and unable to fly after the April 19 tornadoes in Chase County is getting another chance at life.
The eagle is recovering from a three-hour surgery this week to fix a fractured ulna and radius in his right wing. The hope is that the eagle, named Twister by the nonprofit helping him in recovery, will be released back into the wild this summer, Operation Wildlife executive director Diane Johnson said.
“In the meantime, he’s going to be with us for a while,” Johnson said, adding that he is on antibiotics for an infection and is doing OK.
The hope is to do another X-ray in a few weeks and then another roughly 6 weeks of physical therapy after that.
A property manager cleaning up after the tornadoes found the bald eagle on the ground Saturday in an open field near Strong City. He was unable to fly, meaning he could not escape predators or hunt for food and would eventually die.
The person called the sheriff’s office, which contacted the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks. A parks official helped capture the bald eagle, who was taken to Operation Wildlife on Sunday.
“He came and had lost a lot of blood while he was on the ground,” Johnson said.
Pictures from Operation Wildlife show an X-ray of the fractures, the injuries and Twister recovering with bandages around his right wing.
“He’s a bit groggy but coming around pretty good,” Operation Wildlife said in a Facebook post on Wednesday. “Thank you to everyone that contributed to his surgery and care!”
Eight tornadoes, between an EF-0 and EF-2, touched down in Chase County after 8 p.m. April 19. Two people had minor injuries. The tornadoes damaged and destroyed outbuildings and agriculture buildings.
Parks department Capt. Larry Hastings said it’s likely other birds were injured as well.
“When you have eight tornadoes, it’s kind of hard for something to fly away and miss everything,” he said.
Operation Wildlife, based in Linwood in Leavenworth County, is an animal rescue service that has been “caring for injured and orphaned wild animals since 1989,” according to the organization’s website
Contributing: Michael Stavola of The Wichita Eagle
This story was originally published April 27, 2023 at 2:07 PM.