GROUNDED GOLDEN EAGLE COAXED BACK INTO SKIES
03.8.08 - Leído 41 veces. Enviar esta notaPeter Apps
A 31-year-old golden eagle that has not flown since the late 1970s is being coaxed back into the air as trainers try to build back her muscle bulk and shaky confidence
LONDON, UK; March 7, 2008.- Methuselah was rescued from illegal captivity in 1979 having probably been captured as a young wild bird. Since then, the roughly 3 foot tall bird with a 6 foot 8 inch (2.03 metre) wingspan has lived in cages at various centres.
But now trainers at a private falconry centre in northern Scotland are aiming to let her live out her final years in as much normality as possible, taking her from the stage where she could not fly 10 feet to being able to again soar above the valleys and glens.
“The closest comparison is taking an athlete in their mid-20s at peak performance and making them sit in an armchair for 30 years while still giving them the same amount of food, then trying to get them to run again ” trainer and centre owner Barry Blyther told Reuters.
“It is a very challenging process. Her muscle is returning but her cardiovascular fitness is still pretty poor.”
Initially when she arrived last year, trainers used food to tempt her to try and fly across a room but now she has ventured to fly outside and Blyther says he hopes to have her soaring more confidently when the hunting season starts in October.
“She gets very nervous particularly in a wind,” he said. “Over the summer we’ll be trying to build her mental confidence and mental ability as much as anything.”
She will never be able to return to the wild but trainers have pulled dead rabbits and other animals in front of her from bikes and her hunting instincts were still there, he said, indicating she must have once lived in the natural environment.
“Her killer instinct is still very present,” he said. “But she is the most well-balanced, easy, gentle, biddable bird I’ve ever had the privilege of working with in my life.”
(Reuters)
Enlaces Relacionados
