Disfigured bald eagle to get a bionic beak

MSN ^ | Mon., May. 5, 2008 | By Nicholas K. Geranios

[Fawn]

ST. MARIES, Idaho - She has been named Beauty, though this eagle is anything but. Part of Beauty's beak was shot off several years ago, leaving her with a stump that is useless for hunting food. A team of volunteers is working to attach an artificial beak to the disfigured bird, in an effort to keep her alive.

[Fawn]

"She could not survive in the wild without human intervention," Cantwell said.

The 15-pound eagle was found in 2005 scrounging for food and slowly starving to death at a landfill in Alaska. Most of her curved upper beak had been shot away, leaving her tongue and sinuses exposed. She could not clutch or tear at food.

Beauty was taken to a bird recovery center in Anchorage, where she was hand-fed for two years while her caretakers waited in vain for a new beak to grow.

"They had exhausted their resources and she would likely be euthanized," Cantwell said.

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[WayneS]

JB-Weld or PC-7 Epoxy will hold that artificial beak in place forever (or at least until the bird is long dead).

[WayneS]

“...while her caretakers waited in vain for a new beak to grow”

You might as well wait around for your amputated foot to grow back. What’s up with these people?

[Fawn]

What's up with these people? You do not approve? Read this to find what's up with these people:

For those of you who have e-mailed me wondering if it's true that an eagle goes into seclusion, plucks all of its feathers, sheds its beak and talons, and then renews itself, is a myth. An eagle's beak and talons grow continuously, because they are made of keratin, the same substance as our hair and fingernails. Eagles molt in patches, taking almost half a year to replace feathers, starting with the head and working downward. Not all feathers are replaced in a given molt. An eagle without feathers, talons, and a beak would die of starvation and exposure."

[WayneS]

“You do not approve?” What’s that supposed to mean?

I would have started working on the artificial beak about two weeks to a month after the bird was brougth to me.

Apparently THIS eagle’s beak does not “grow continuously”. And it shouldn’t have taken “several years” for its caretakers to figure that out.

[wbill]

Ah yes. Beauty and the Beak.

[Fawn]

Ah....I agree...

[Fawn]

Lol...clever.

[Fawn]

Revenge of the birds: Nest-plucker shocked

[70th Division]

We have an African Gray Parrot. Her beak and talons grow continually, like your finger nails and have to be trimmed. I bet too much was gone to re grow.

[Jeff Chandler]

Why not feed it corn for a while, then roast it?

[Fawn]

Because it’s against the law....but what would you care- right?

[Jeff Chandler]

Because it’s against the law....but what would you care- right?

I care about the law.