3-week-old eagle rescued after falling out of nest in Sacramento County

KMAX, KOVR, SUSAN SKINNER, CNN

By Andrew Haubner

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    ORANGEVALE, California (KOVR) — A community rallied around an eaglet over the weekend after it fell more than 100 feet out of its nest in Sacramento County.

Susan Skinner has been photographing the family of eagles for eight years and never expected this.

“We were faced with the melancholy prospect of watching this little eagle die up there,” she said.

This life-or-death situation unfolded on a tree positioned more than a hundred feet over the American River in Orangevale.

“A lady who visits these eagles on a daily basis noticed, as we all did, that one of them was missing,” Skinner said.

Complicating matters was the land being owned by the federal government.

“We had a few people that volunteered, calling other people too, but it took several hours,” said wildlife rehabbed Leslie Ackerman.

Ackerman said hope was fading on Saturday as the minutes turned to hours.

“He had fallen. Luckily, a branch had caught him from falling to his death,” Ackerman said. “He had gotten caught in the bottom of the nest where his mother could not get down to feed him at all.”

Then, a private group of arborists from Placerville arrived.

They got up the tree, risking their own safety for no pay, and saved the eaglet.

“The speed and the confidence with which they worked was—they were heroes,” Skinner said.

The situation truly took a village, and that helped save the life of an American symbol.

“That little guy brought a lot of people to tears,” Ackerman said. “Behind me, in front of me, even the fire department guys there were a little teary-eyed.”

The eaglet may be returned to its nest. but a variety of agencies and rescue groups will meet to determine if they can safely accomplish the task given how dangerous the nest’s location is.

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