Juvenile bald eagle rescued at Squamish landfill

A bald eagle was rescued in Squamish recently and is now in the care of the Orphaned Wildlife (OWL) Rehabilitation Society in Delta.

“I got a call that he had himself trapped in the compost area at the landfill,” said Sheila Phillips, who helped get the eagle to OWL. “The whole thing is surrounded by electric fencing, so the eagle had managed to fly or hop or get his way up onto the top of the blocks and had gone down into there.”

Phillips said the bird was rescued on April 14 at the Squamish landfill by a Green For Life employee, Amanda Gray, and a District of Squamish employee who we have yet to identify. Phillips then drove it to Park Royal, where an OWL volunteer helped transfer the bird from there.

Rob Hope of OWL said when it got there, the male juvenile was in pretty bad shape, as he was very malnourished and had a nasty wound on his right wing possibly from the electric fencing that surrounds this area of the landfill.

“If we are able to heal the wound and keep his body in good condition, he may have a chance at release in a couple of months,” wrote Hope in an email.

However, Hope said it was too soon to know the final outcome at this point.