Garibaldi

Named after an escaped eagle from the Carolina's Raptor Center (and one of my favorite charechters from the tv show Babylon 5) Gari"baldi" wants to visit places of flight from raptor centers, to the birthplace of aviation, from the birdfeeder in your back yard with new "friends" to cape canaveral, from butterfly museums to kite parks. I just want to be FREE. You can see my story below.

An injured bald eagle that has been missing for six months has been found miles from where he was last seen. The bird escaped last July from the Carolina Raptor Center near Huntersville.

Children at Beverly Hills Elementary School were among the first to find Garibaldi the eagle. They spotted him the woods near the playground.

No one knows exactly how the bird ended up there. Witnesses said the eagle was weak and may not have survived much longer if he had not been found.

Garibaldi lived in a giant bird cage for seven years. He was on display with his feathered friends. Garibaldi became a crowd favorite at the raptor center.

“He is one of our ambassador eagles,” a member of the Carolina Raptor Center said.

So when a summer storm ripped open the cage and Garibaldi escaped, the disappearance ruffled more than a few feathers. The center even printed t-shirts and volunteers chased down dozens of sightings, but the eagle was gone.

“He’s just incredibly important to us,” the Raptor Center said.

Experts weren’t sure if the bird could survive on its own. The eagle has a hole in his wing and could not have flown far.

“I thought it was just my imagination,” said fourth grader, Jack Takla.

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But Talk got closer in the woods:

“I just couldn’t believe my eyes,” Takla said.

There was Garibaldi.

“He was right over here in the pine tree,” Takla said

Other kids saw it too.

“I thought it was pretty amazing because I haven’t really ever seen one even around here,” witness Victoria Kelly said.

The injured eagle was once spotted on Mountain Island Lake. He somehow traveled at least 15 miles in the last six months.

“We were very surprised that he was doing so well,” the Raptor Center said.

The battered bird is now in the care of those eagle experts.

“Right now Garibaldi is emaciated, we don’t know much more than that, he came in yesterday and we’re going to continue to monitor his condition,” the Raptor Center said.

Garibaldi remains in what you might call intensive care for birds, too weak to be photographed for this story. 6NEWS was told he is hooked up to an IV and the prognosis for his recovery is uncertain.

Garibaldi was one of eight disabled eagles in the aviary at the Carolina Raptor Center, but the only one to escape last July. Because of his injured wing, Garibaldi will never be released back into the wild.

Update: As of March 2008 Giribaldi is still at the raptor center and doing great, I think he was one of the bald eagles mating this spring ;-D