Wendy Perrone joins Ron Perrone, holding the eagle, and Seth Kiriluk (right), who rescued the bird from the Greenbrier River, in the Greenbrier Veterinary Hospital. The eagle, believed to have been attacked by a mink, is expected to recover from its injuries and be released at a later date.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Seth Kiriluk, district executive for Buckskin Council of Boy Scouts of America’s Seneca District, may have earned a month’s worth of Scouting’s “Do a good turn daily” credit on Monday when he rescued an injured adult bald eagle from the Greenbrier River near Marlinton.
Kiriluk had stopped at the Dirtbean coffee shop in Marlinton to use its Wi-Fi connection to catch up on work before driving to Lewisburg for a Scout meeting when Jim Mincher, a North Carolinian who had been biking on the Greenbrier River Trail, which passes through Marlinton, entered the coffee shop. Mincher saw Kiriluk in his uniform and told him that he had seen an injured bald eagle along the trail about 1 1/2 miles north of town.
Mincher, Kiriluk learned, was a former assistant scoutmaster with 20 years of Scouting experience, whose sons, like Kiriluk, are Eagle Scouts.
“He wanted to be sure the eagle received care if at all possible,” Kiriluk said. “He marked its location on the trail on a map,” and continued his ride.
Kiriluk said he then called Joel Rosenthal, owner of Point of View Farm wildlife sanctuary near Denmar. Rosenthal was unable to rescue the bird because of a recent surgery, but suggested that the Scout executive use a large blanket to capture the bird himself.
The idea of capturing a wild bald eagle was a daunting one — especially after he spotted it, took in its size, talons and defensive posture, and “locked eyes with the fiercest pair of eyes I’ve ever seen,” he said.
But the two-time Iraq War veteran was up to the challenge.
“It was the right thing to do,” he said. “Ethically and morally, I felt it was my responsibility.”
Kiriluk rounded up a beach towel, burlap bag and jacket from his vehicle and hit the trail.
He saw that the eagle had an injured wing when he first encountered it on the river bank.
As he approached the bird, “it ran away and ended up in the river. So did I,” he said. When Kiriluk drew closer to the eagle, “I quickly realized that my beach towel was going to be inadequate,” he said.
Fortunately, at about that time, Greenbrier River Trail Superintendent Jody Spencer arrived at a nearby section of the trail in his State Parks vehicle with a large blanket and a box to use as a temporary carrier, Kiriluk said.
The Scout executive then approached the eagle again.
Kiriluk drove the eagle to the U.S. Forest Service’s Marlinton Ranger District office, where the staff made calls and arranged to have Dr. Susan Mohler meet Kiriluk at Lewisburg’s Greenbrier Veterinary Hospital, a registered Three Rivers Avian Center hospice veterinary location.
“I told the people at the ranger station I would take the eagle wherever she needed to go, and it turned out to be Lewisburg, where I was going anyway,” Kiriluk said.
Kiriluk, Mohler and the eagle were met at the veterinary hospital by Ron and Wendy Perrone of Three Rivers Avian Center, which provides follow-up treatment and rehabilitation services for injured birds of prey.
The eagle, a 5- to 6-year-old female, “had many bite marks on her right wing and some puncture wounds in her left foot,” said Wendy Perrone. “She got into a tangle with some kind of a critter, probably a mink.”
The wounds are similar to those found on an injured blue heron treated at Three Rivers several years ago that was seen being attacked by a mink.
“They’re members of the weasel family and can be pretty vicious,” she said.
After receiving treatment from Mohler, the eagle was taken back to Three River’s rehabilitation center at Brooks in Summers County.
“Luckily, all her injuries involved soft tissue damage — no broken bones,” Wendy Perrone said. “But there were a lot of maggots in all her wounds. We spent about four hours cleaning her up.”
The eagle was also found to have a high, but not lethal, lead content in her blood, which could affect judgment and longevity, Wendy Perrone said. Had the eagle been left untreated much longer, her odds for survival would have been slim, she said.
“She weighs nine pounds, which is about two pounds less than she should be, but with a lot of groceries and rest and recreation, there’s a very good chance we’ll eventually be able to release this one,” Wendy Perrone said.
Kiriluk plans to be on hand when that time comes.
“After the fact, it was a pretty exciting experience,” he said. “I got a few scratches, but it was nothing the adrenaline didn’t take care of. Rescuing her was a group effort. I’m glad to have been a part of it.”
Reach Rick Steelhammer at [email protected], 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.
