VIROQUA, Wis. – A juvenile bald eagle that accidentally ended up inside of a garbage truck appears to be okay after being rescued at the Vernon County Landfill recently. At last months Vernon County Board of Supervisors meeting, Solid Waste Administrator Stacie Sanborn said it was a happy ending to a somewhat tense situation when they discovered the bird had popped out of a load of garbage being dumped at the landfill a few weeks ago.
“One of the front load Packer trucks was delivering up in the landfill and he opened the back and a ram pushes the garbage out into the landfill,” said Sanborn. “That back door opened and out glided a young bald eagle. He glided out of the garbage truck and out into our landfill.”
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz capturing a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz capturing a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz capturing a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz and Vernon County employee Mike Paulsrud with a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz and Vernon County employee Mike Paulsrud with a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz and Vernon County Solid Waste Administrator Stacie Sanborn with a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill 
DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz and Vernon County Solid Waste Administrator Stacie Sanborn with a juvenile bald eagle that ended up at the Vernon County Landfill
Sandborn said the bird was unable to fly away so she and her staff struggled to figure out what to do with the bird. After contacting the local DNR warden they eventually got the phone number of the Raptor Education Group Inc. in Anitgo, Wisconsin. Sanborn said they were hours away but they informed her that she could catch the bird herself and take it to the Coulee Region Humane Society, and they would pick it up later.
“I was like, I’m sorry, you want me to what?” asked Sanborn.
Sanborn said catching the bird themselves was not an option so she kept trying the DNR and it turned out that DNR Wildlife Biologist Dan Goltz lives just minutes from the landfill. Golzt came to the rescue and within a short time had the bird in hand.
“Dan single handedly captured this eagle,” said Sanborn. “He was limping around unable to fly away, and Dan ran him down. Caught him. No gloves. No long sleeves on.”
Once the bird was in Dan’s hands they used a sweatshirt to cover his eyes and calm him down. Goltz did a check of the bird and it did not appear it had anything broken and may have just been too banged up to fly or too young. From there Goltz transported the bird to the Coulee Region Human Society and from there to the Raptor Education organization for rehabilitation. Sanborn the latest information she has was the bird was expected to make a full recovery.
Add comment