Game warden saves bald eagle mired in Lancaster County manure pit

The Pennsylvania Game Commission rescued a bald eagle stuck in a manure pit in Lancaster.

The Game Commission said it received a report Saturday that a bald eagle was unable to fly out of a manure pit at a private farm in southern Lancaster County.

The large mature male eagle might have been stuck in the pit for 24 hours, said Tracie Young, a wildlife rehabilitator and director of the Raven Ridge Wildlife Center in Lancaster.

A fence around the pit was cut for Game Warden Daniel Gibble to rescue the bird, according to Young and the Game Commission. The bird was taken to the nearby Raven Ridge Wildlife Center for treatment.

“Upon arrival at the center, the eagle was clearly exhausted, dehydrated and needed a bath immediately,” according to a Raven Ridge Facebook post.

The bird was encrusted in manure and urine.

“This time of the year with the heat, my concern was the eagle being exposed to parasites and bacteria,” she said. “We got everything off of him.”

The bird was doing much better Tuesday, Young said.

“He’s doing fantastic,” she said. “He’s eating and is hydrated but he’s really exhausted.”

The eagle still has not regained all of its strength. Recovery is a slow process, Young said in a Facebook post.

When the bird is recovered, it will be released back into the wild.

For updates on the eagle or to make a donation to the nonprofit wildlife center, visit Raven Ridge’s Facebook page.