Hockey stick assist credited for helping save bald eagle near Revelstoke, B.C.
KAMLOOPS, B.C. — An injured eagle that was coaxed to safety in southeastern British Columbia with the help of a hockey stick and a chunk of salmon appears to be on the mend.
The juvenile male bald eagle, dubbed Illy, appeared to have a broken wing when it was spotted in Revelstoke on Friday. But with no trained wildlife officers nearby, it was up to two passing RCMP officers to use Canadian ingenuity to nab the bird.
The officers used a hockey stick to extend a chunk of salmon to the starving bird and he followed the fish to a spot where rescuers could cover and gently restrain him.
Cpl. Thomas Blakney says he was told the eagle may have been in the area for a week or more, so he used his day off to drive it more than 200 kilometres to Kamloops for treatment the next day.