Lin Yang Straits Times 9 Oct 10;
WRAPPED gingerly in a white towel held together by masking tape, the patient was carried by a professional caregiver to the X-ray room as anxious eyes followed it and camera flashes went off to record every move.
The eagle had landed at last - in the safe arms of a dedicated veterinarian. Its talons worn and limp, it lay in obvious pain, only the glitter in its eye a testament to its will to live - and fly.
The four-year-old raptor was found with a broken left leg by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) near the tarmac of Changi Airport on Aug 30. Lacking the expertise to provide care, the SPCA took it to the Jurong Bird Park's Avian Hospital for treatment.
Throughout the procedure, as staff captured its reactions on film, it watched quietly, seemingly determined to make it back to its piece of the sky above the eastern shores of Singapore.
Not without help, however. Its femur was completely broken and, if left untreated, the two sections of bone would grow back together at an awkward angle, shortening the left leg.
'Eagles usually get such injuries by crashing into things, such as trees, buildings, and glass,' explained Dr Melodiya Magno, the veterinarian. 'If the SPCA had not discovered it and brought it here, the bird would have been more vulnerable to attacks by other eagles or have had difficulty holding on to prey.'
Dr Magno operated on the bird for two hours in early September to insert a metal pin to hold the broken sections of the bone together, allowing them to align.
Protruding from the skin, the two ends of the pin were tied with an elastic band to provide additional pressure on the bone so it could heal faster.
The vet removed the pin yesterday, after giving the bone a full month to heal.
However, it is still unclear when or if the bird would be released back into the wild. Dr Magno pointed out that wild animals often get 'too comfortable' in captivity and forget how to hunt. The bird park will be working to condition the eagle to capture and eat live prey to enable its release.
White-bellied sea eagles are found along the coasts of South Asia, South-east Asia and Australia. They are one of the largest raptors in South-east Asia, with an average adult wingspan of 2m.
