The resurgence in bald eagle populations is a double-edged sword. It is wonderful that there are so many more, but more eagles mean more dangerous interactions with humans.

Carol Holmgren, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator and executive director of Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Saegertown, said the top two incidents that bring injured eagles to the center are lead poisoning and cars strikes.

She said that lead poisoning affects the birds’ judgment, and they can fly into something while “under the influence of lead.”

An eagle brought in by Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officer Dave Donachy last week had “subclinical” levels of lead in its blood, with 30 micrograms per decaliter, where a clinical level would be twice that, she said.

A symptom of the poisoning is the raptor resting its head on its breast, and a “tenting” of its wings, because of an inability to hold them close to the body.

Unfortunately, after examining the bird, a veterinarian discovered a fractured coracoid, a bone found in the breast. Such a fracture, Holmgren said, would make flight very painful. The cause was probably either a bout of territorial combat or the bird flew into something, she surmised.

On the positive side, she said, a recent study done at the University of Minnesota found eagles with coracoid fractures treated by wing stabilization, physical therapy and “cage rest” have an excellent prognosis.

When asked about a prognosis, she said, “I would say guarded, but cautiously optimistic.” She added that at that level of lead poisoning, he would fall into the ten percent release rate, meaning that there is a 90 percent chance that he would either not survive, or not be able to be rehabilitated enough to return to the wild.

“The fact that he is still alive is a positive sign,” she said.

Holmgren said the eagle is a four-year-old male and is very athletic, and in the best case scenario, he wouldn’t be ready for exercise in their 104-foot-long flight building for at least a month.

Caring for injured or poisoned eagles can be quite expensive. The eagle is currently on seven different medicines, including one for chelation therapy, which helps the body rid itself of heavy metals by using an agent that binds with the lead in the bloodstream and is expelled.

She said the center is a non-profit 501(c)(3), funded by donations. They also receive a grant from the Warren-based “Northern Allegheny Conservation Association to help us with the material costs to treat eagles.”

The eagle was also injected with 60 cubic centimeters of a sodium chloride solution near where the legs meet the body, to treat for dehydration, and was given yet another drug to prevent a potentially fatal infection, Holmgren said.