Sunday, August 17, 2008

Given The Chance To Live... A Special Visit For Freedom.....

Freedom and Jeff have been together 10 years this summer. In 1998 she came with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in four places. When Freedom came in, she couldn't stand. Along with broken wings, she was
emaciated and covered in lice. They made the decision to give her a chance at
life so Jeff took her to the vets office. From then on, He was always around her.



This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to
the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand
in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and
rehab, and it looked like death was winning.
She was going to be put down
that Friday.
Jeff was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. He
didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because he couldn't bear the
thought of her being euthanized but went anyway. When he walked in,
everyone was grinning from ear to ear. He went immediately back to her dowl
cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was
ready to live. That was a very good day.

Jeff & Freedom live just about 8 miles up the road from our home. We never heard the story of Freedom the eagle up until recently and my In -Laws decided they were coming up for a quick weekend trip . They heard her story and to their surprise the Wildlife Center was just minutes away from us !! So we went on a little field trip this weekend to see this sweet story in person.

Here are my In-Laws ( Mr. Darlings Mama) & Papa Rooster. I took this picture not realizing at first that Rooster had an Eagle wing !!! We ventured around and found Freedom in an outdoor cage. A huge bird indeed who will never fly again !!! She was beautiful !!! She wasn't too keen on us staring in at her though... notice the first little picture in this colloge.. she is squawking at us !!!

Fact: Bald Eagles have a presence in every
U. S.
state except Hawaii.
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Fact: The word 'bald' in Old English means 'white head' hence the name Bald Eagle.
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Fact: Eagles have a wing span of 6 to 8 feet

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Fact: Eagles can see 8 times better than a human, what we see at 20 feet an Eagle can see at 160 feet.
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Fact: Bald Eagles are monogamous and mate for life. A Bald Eagle will only select another mate if its faithful companion should die.
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We also had the chance to see some other wild birds who would never be able to fly free again. Sad in a way... but what a wonderful organization who saves God's creatures and gives them a chance at life. Here are just a handful of wild birds that have been saved here. Their little caged areas were quite snug and dark which was probably one of the things that bothered us a bit... Maybe someday they will be able to build some type of out door shelters so they can see outside a bit better, yet still have shelter from the crazy North West weather.



Fact:
The Bald Eagle was officially declared the National Emblem of the United States by the Second Continental Congress in 1782. It was selected by the U.S.A.'s founding fathers because it is a species unique to North America.

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We all had a lovely visit. And so glad that we got to share this little experience together.

5 comments:

  1. I am so happy to see pictures of Freedom. Wow, such a beautiful eagle with quite a remarkable past!

    I also loved seeing pictures of the kids...and (your in laws) How funny about the wing in the back of him! Nice to see Patti, she is so lovely!! "Where are you?"

    Happy Sunday:-))
    XOOX~Jeannene

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  2. I really enjoyed this post.
    Nancy

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  3. VERY COOL and AWESOME!!!!!
    We have similar posts.Go check it out ,please let me know,I have been waiting to hear.
    Now I know another place to check out when we go back to Washington.See what cool places there are if you search. Bald Eagles are one of my favorites.Did you find out why they are not in Hawaii?? Did you know California doesnt have Cardinals??
    I am sure we have similar places here in Ca.
    Love ya
    Shawny

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  4. Your post is much more professional and educational than mine. Looks like you did you homework for the kids to learn. You are awesome.

    Oh my goodness I forgot to mention Derk and Jen! That will fix them for not inviting us to the wedding! Ha ha ha!

    Yeah, Tony and I did look a bit red huh? Must have been my camera. Many of the pictures I took of the kids didn't turn out. They were blurred or weird, I must have my settings wrong or I need a new camera like yours, Love Ya

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  5. It looks a wonderful day out Mica! What a beautiful eagle! Thanks so much for sharing him with us!

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