Eagles poisoned near Inver Grove Heights landfill on the mend, but birds of prey remain at risk

Eagles sickened last month near an Inver Grove Heights landfill are recovering, with seven already released back into the wild — but exactly how they got sick remains a mystery.

What is known is that human behavior resulted in the deaths of at least two eagles and nearly killed 10 more, a University of Minnesota Raptor Center official said. The eagles were likely accidentally poisoned from eating carcasses of chemically euthanized animals improperly dumped in the landfill.

"The choices we make as humans can sometimes have unintended consequences," said Dana Franzen-Klein, the center's clinical wildlife and medical director. "When we learn, we can make changes that have a really big impact."

Raptor Center staff spent weeks providing round-the-clock care for 10 birds, delivering medication and fluids and keeping a close watch over the ferocious feathered patients.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is still investigating how the animals came to ingest pentobarbital, Franzen-Klein said. The eagles are believed to have eaten the carcasses of animals euthanized with the barbiturate from an Inver Grove Heights landfill around Dec. 2.

Inver Grove Heights police brought the first sick bird to the Raptor Center on Dec. 4. Volunteers found nine sick eagles in the snow around the landfill on Dec. 5, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife workers found another eagle on Dec. 6. Two more eagles were found dead that week, apparent victims of the pentobarbital.

When eagles eat the carcasses of animals euthanized with pentobarbital, Franzen-Klein said, they get dazed and sleepy. They can recover, she said, if they don't die in the sedated state.

The eagles were unable to fend for themselves for days, Franzen-Klein said. Those found in the snow needed help getting warm again. Several contracted pneumonia and needed two weeks of antibiotics. Three had severe lead poisoning and more had moderate lead poisoning, so they got medication to help clear the lead from their systems.

"These poor birds. They had a lot going on," Franzen-Klein said. "They were super lucky they were able to get over those conditions."

Seven eagles have made full recoveries and have been released back into the wild, Franzen-Klein said. One of the eagles died from bird flu soon after it was brought to the center.

Three eagles from the landfill remain at the Raptor Center. Two are recovering from injuries to their talons and one has digestive troubles. Franzen-Klein said center staff hope these eagles will soon get back to full health and can be released, too.

Last Friday, center staff and volunteers got to watch six of the seven recovered eagles soar off into a clear blue sky. (One was released in December.)

"These birds had pentobarbital poisoning and lead poisoning and other issues, but they were really strong and feisty," Franzen-Klein said. "It was incredibly rewarding and exciting and thrilling, and kind of a representation of why we do what we do."

But providing intensive care for so many birds all at once came at a cost for the center, which has a small staff and runs almost entirely on donations.

"The birds don't pay their bills," Franzen-Klein said.

So the Raptor Center turned to its community of donors, who stepped up in a big way. A special fundraiser last month brought in nearly $20,000 — enough to cover the cost of the eagles' care, Franzen-Klein said.

Now, she said, she hopes people will remember the way these eagles suffered, and think about how their actions will affect other animals.

There are regulations meant to prevent bald eagles and other scavenging animals from eating chemically euthanized animals in landfills, Franzen-Klein said. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials are investigating how the eagles were able to consume the tainted carcasses.

It's rare to see pentobarbital poisoning in raptors, Franzen-Klein said. But lead poisoning is common: Between 80% and 90% of all the birds of prey brought to the Raptor Center for treatment have lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning typically comes from eating fragments of lead projectiles used by hunters. Scavenging animals, including eagles, can pick up lead by eating deer entrails hunters leave behind, or sometimes hunted pheasants and waterfowl, Franzen-Klein said.

One of the eagles found at the Inver Grove Heights landfill had a lead projectile in her stomach.

"An incident like this Is a good reminder for us as people to think about the choices we make," Franzen-Klein said, such as opting for non-lead ammunition for hunting.

"When you know better, you can do better. And that's the best we can do as people."