‘Naughty’ eagle who fled display is found 300 miles from home
WHEN Rex the sea eagle got into a flap at a birds of prey display he bolted – and landed 300 miles away.
The two-year-old Steller’s sea eagle, with an 8ft wingspan, fled during an exhibition at Eagle Heights Wildlife Foundation in Eynsford, Kent.
“He was very naughty boy,” said a staff memeber at the foundation.
His usual trick is to climb to 2,000ft before wowing the crowd by plummeting back to earth at 90mph. But this time he took a flight of fancy. His GPS tracker initially put him 4,000ft above central London – but then the signal went dead on Friday.
Hopes were fading until the Kent foundation got a call on Sunday from a wildlife centre in Redcar, near Middlebrough, which had seen the alert about Rex on Facebook.
At the end of his long-haul flight, Rex, who could easily pick up a dog, had been spotted on a caravan roof in nearby Guisborough.
Rex took off again to evade capture but was eventually lured back with the promise of raw chicken.
When Rex was finally reunited with his trainer he was tired, confused and hungry but unharmed.
“It was one hell of a journey,” said Craig Wesson of Kirkleatham Owl Centre, Redcar, who spotted the eagle. “To travel that far in such a short space of time is remarkable.”
Rex also went missing last year but stayed close to home and returned of his own accord.
His trainer Johnny Ames believes something spooked him and by the time he calmed down he was hopelessly lost.
Mr Ames, 31, said: “For something so big, he’s just a wuss. He’s even nervous of crows.
“I’ll give him a few days rest and then take him out again if he seems calm. He’s a magnificent sight.”