Autopsy to detail death of bald eagle found near a yard in Northville Twp.
A normally ho-hum Michigan autumn task – putting away patio furniture for the winter – morphed into a surreal experience for Northville Township resident Bob Ondrus just after noon Nov. 20.
“I heard a whoosh sound,” Ondrus explained. “When I looked over at the bike path that runs behind our backyard, I saw a bald eagle sitting there. It was very unusual because I’ve never seen an eagle anywhere close to this area.”
Ondrus lives in the Northville Ridge subdivision, about a half-mile east of the Arbor Hills Landfill at Six Mile and Napier roads in Salem.
“I thought it was odd, too, because eagles usually don’t land near humans,” he said. “It was almost as if she saw me out there and was telling me she needed help.”
When Ondrus grabbed his camera and walked over to the spot where the eagle landed, he realized the situation was dire.
“It looked kind of dizzy when I got close to it,” Ondrus said. “Then it put its wings out and I knew it was not good. There was no blood visible, but you could tell something wasn’t right.”
Ondrus and his wife Lyn called several animal-related rescue organizations but were unable to secure a solution.
“Lyn posted something on (social media app) Nextdoor, telling people about the situation and asking what we should do,” Ondrus said. “Someone suggested calling the Michigan Animal Transport Service. We contacted them and they were here in about 45 minutes. The man who came to get the eagle was wearing a pair of special gloves. He put a towel over the eagle and carefully put her in a transport cage.”
The eagle was taken to the Howell Nature Center, where employees determined it needed specialized care.
“Physically, it appeared healthy – its wings looked fine – but its crop (a pouch near a bird of prey’s gullet or throat) – was full and the eagle was drooling profusely, which are signs of poisoning,” Laura Butler, director of wildlife & education at the nature center, said. “One of the most common causes of poisoning of birds of prey is lead poisoning, which happens when they feed on roadkill or fish whose blood has been poisoned by lead bullets or lead tackle.
“We contacted the Wildside Rehabilitation & Education Center
in Eaton Rapids because we knew they were capable of testing for lead poisoning. They picked up the eagle and transported it to their facility.”
The valiant efforts of everyone involved proved to be futile as the eagle died moments after arriving at the Wildside facility, said Louis Sagaert, a Wildside employee.
“If the eagle had survived longer, we could have tried to treat it with atropine, a drug we use to treat birds of prey suffering from organophosphate poisoning,” Sagaert said. “After the eagle died we did a blood test that showed the eagle did not die from lead poisoning.”
A necropsy – an autopsy for animal species – was performed on the eagle to determine the cause of death. Results of the procedure may not be available for weeks, Sagaert noted.
“It’s important that we find out what killed the eagle so that we can learn from it and educate the public about how to potentially prevent situations like this from happening again,” Butler said.
Ondrus said one of the animal professionals told him the eagle was 11 years old based on a tag that was attached to its tarsus.
Butler said it’s possible the eagle may have eaten a rodent that had recently ingested rodenticide. If this were the case, the poison would not have killed the eagle instantly.
Butler said using a poison to kill animals is an inhumane way to deal with a rodent or similar infestation near your home. “It is a horrible way to die, no matter what the animal is,” she said.