Bald Eagle Takes Amtrak

[edbenton]

That is one bird that deserves my old handle of Ironeagle! LOL[:D]

[Junctionfan]

Bald Eagles don't have indemnification do they? Something else to sue Amtrak?

LOL.[:D]

[espeefoamer]

The eagle appearently never heard of the slogan,Expect a train at any time coming from any direction[;)].

[eolafan]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jim_White

That's a pretty tough bird to take a hit from a train and still be ticking. If it was me in place of the eagle, I would've been smattered and flattened wafer thin.

I guess the eagle was traveling "On a wing and a prayer" that day![xx(]

[Kurn]

Do ya think the eagle "never saw the train coming"?

[Anonymous]

That's a pretty tough bird to take a hit from a train and still be ticking. If it was me in place of the eagle, I would've been smattered and flattened wafer thin.

[TomDiehl]

So what fare would the eagle be charged? I haven't been able to find "cab ride" fare for wildlife on the Amtrak site.

[Big_Boy_4005]

Hey LC, congrats on 3,000 posts.[tup]

You know the bald eagle was nearly extinct. Amtrak needs to be more careful, as they are in almost the same situation.[:(][;)]

Seriously, the University of Minnesota has one of the best programs in the world for the care and recovery of injured raptors. I wonder if it will eventually find it's way here.

[Anonymous]

LOL...I was hoping this post would tickle the funny bone around here a bit...

LC

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by eolafan

Does this count as "Giving Amtrak the bird?".

ROFLMAO

[Mookie]

I would type "hiss/boo" words, but I am laughing too hard!

[eolafan]

Does this count as "Giving Amtrak the bird?". Sorry, I just couldn't resist![(-D]

[jeaton]

Class work on the part of the engine and train crew, too. Less considerate people might have just considered it another road kill incident.

Jay

[Mookie]

Awww.....

I have Raptor Recovery on my donation list - so this is a feel good story for me!

Mookie

[Anonymous]

The eagle has landed--on an Amtrak train
(The following article by George Whitehurst was posted on the Free Lance Star website on November 25.)

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. -- It started out as a standard day at the Fredericksburg Police Department, with reports of various criminal activity, both large and small.

But about 4:30 p.m., the department received a call about a fowl incident.

A northbound Amtrak train had struck a bald eagle, and though the bird apparently had survived, it remained pinned to the front of the locomotive.

And so a group of officers headed down to the depot to meet the train and try to figure out if they could save the eagle, according to Fredericksburg police spokesman Jim Shelhorse.

"They actually were able to take the eagle off the train and transport it to headquarters," he said yesterday.

Officers then contacted the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to figure out what to do with this new charge.

Although bald eagles no longer are on the Endangered Species List, they remain under federal protection.

Game and Inland Fisheries officials told Fredericksburg police they should turn the bird over to a federally approved eagle rehabilitation specialist.

And so Valerie Ackerman soon got a call about the injured bird.

As she headed to Fredericksburg, she issued a stream of instructions to the attending officers.

"She was in constant contact with them, offering advice and talking them through it," Shelhorse said.

Ackerman arrived and, once the bird was stabilized, took it home to care for it.
She was unavailable for comment yesterday.

But police department officials had contacted her.

"When they talked with her this morning, she said it was doing very well, and really thought it was going to be fine," Shelhorse said on Thanksgiving Day.

Shelhorse marks this close encounter with our national bird as one of the odder calls the department has received.

"They, of course, get unusual animal calls all the time, but I don't know that they've ever gotten one involving a bald eagle and a train," he said with a laugh

From BLET site