“He looked around, gave two hops and just soared off.”
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These are the words Victorian wildlife rescuer Marie Greiner used to describe the magical moment she helped release an injured wedge-tailed eagle back into the wild at Macarthur.
Ms Greiner said the “beautiful bird”, who had been found injured about a week before, was very quiet and placid.
Hamilton wildlife rescuers including Ms Greiner and Shelly Burrows took the bird of prey in after it was found confused and unable to fly, without any obvious injuries.
The young eagle spent a week recovering, eating food including rabbits and a hare to build his strength back up, on the advice of a Ballarat-based wedge-tailed eagle expert. An x-ray was done, but no injuries were found.
On Wednesday afternoon, Ms Greiner said she and other rescuers took the eagle back near where he was found to release him.
“We didn’t want to pick a hot day and yesterday seemed perfect so we took him back out,” she said.
“He only stood there for about two minutes before he took off.”
*Note: The Hamilton Wildlife Shelter is a DELWP-authorised wildlife shelter and permission was granted to share the footage.
