The rangers of the Missouri Department of Conservation recently spotted a bald eagle who had a hard time moving and appeared unable to fly. Thinking the bird was injured, the rangers captured it and took it for examination, only to find out that he just had a big lunch and was “too fat to fly.”
The bird was originally discovered at Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, a reserve near Republic, Missouri, where the Battle of Wilson’s Creek took place. It was initially believed that the bald eagle was dealing with some kind of wing injury, so the rangers transported it to nearby Dickerson Park Zoo for X-ray tests.
The tests showed that the eagle didn’t have any apparent injuries that would prevent him from flying. However, they did find the remains of a raccoon in his stomach. It turned out that the bird likely swallowed a whole raccoon and became too stuffed to get off the ground.
“The eagle has been rehabilitated and released back into the park. The bird, originally reported to be injured, was found to be healthy but engorged with raccoon — in other words, too fat to fly,” it said in the post on the Facebook page of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield also attached several photos in the post including X-ray results.
