Bryan Esbaugh and his 15-year-old son, Wyatt, were fishing for smallmouth bass on Ponhook Lake in Queens County, N.S., on Friday morning when they accidentally caught a bald eagle.
“We saw this bald eagle following us around the lake. So we thought, ‘Oh, it must be waiting for us to catch a fish to see where they all are,’” said Wyatt, who used to feed bass to birds while fishing with friends.
For about half an hour, the eagle followed them along the shore and skimmed the water for breakfast. When the eagle circled back around for one last sweep of the lake, it grabbed their fishing lines and lures out of the water and flew away.
“It seemed to get all tangled up in the line and it crashed in the middle of the lake,” said Bryan. “… It was flopping around and waving all over the place.”
They steered their boat toward the eagle and noticed one of the hooks piercing in its beak while another caught its foot. Wyatt hauled the eagle out of the water and into the boat.
“We were trying to stay away from it because of its big claws.… It’s probably 25 pounds or so,” Bryan said.
They eventually made it back to the dock, but as they were getting out, the eagle flopped back into the lake and drifted away. Wyatt quickly manoeuvred the boat and guided the eagle to shore. He wrapped the bird in a towel, held it down, and together they removed the hooks.
Dr. Jessica Rock, a veterinarian with the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, said while it’s not uncommon to treat birds tangled in fishing gear, lures and ropes, this case was unique.
“They did sort of the best in their arsenal that they knew how to do, and certainly they did help this animal,” said Rock. “We would recommend if they encounter a situation like this again in the future that the animal is seen just to make sure that they have the best chance of success.”
She recommends contacting the Department of Natural Resources to help with any future entanglements.
“Even though bald eagles look really big and strong, they’re actually quite delicate in a lot of interesting ways, and so having somebody who’s really experienced handling them can be a big help.”
In the end, the eagle managed to fly free.
“Our dog chased it a little bit to kind of get it to fly away,” said Bryan. Then off flew what they named the “Canadian White-Headed Lake Raptor.”
Bryan said calling the American symbol a “Canadian White-Headed Lake Raptor” is a tongue-in-cheek response to Donald Trump attempting to rename Lake Ontario.
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