Tribute

I joined REF in the fall of 1986, as a nineteen-year old college student. Majoring in biology at CU-Boulder, I had also been working with raptors for six years and had already worked with two golden eagles. One was a huge female, weighing around fifteen pounds. But she had been blinded in one eye due to a gunshot, and though gentle, she was a nervous bird requiring very careful handling. I had never worked with an imprint eagle before and for the next 34 years, Blondie never ceased to amaze me, and more than once, left me speechless.

She was no ordinary eagle, and not even a typical imprint raptor, as I learned over the decades. It is difficult to express how truly interested she was in what the humans around her were doing, and how much she appeared to “enjoy” being around us. Dozens of volunteers could describe how she grabbed trash bags, played with the hose, tugged on clothing and insisted on coming right up to us to see what we were doing in her enclosure. In zoological terms, her life was just about as “enriched” as any eagle living with people could hope for. But more than this, her behavior in front of an audience was simply extraordinary. Noises and constant movement never bothered her. Sudden noises barely elicited a reaction. Way back in the 1980s and 1990s, we discovered that certain brightly-colored carnival game prizes scared her terribly, but eventually, she adapted and lost her fear of even those crazy toys.

We knew that her bout with West Nile virus would likely shorten her life. But nothing could have prepared us for the behavior change which began on March 21st. By the next day we knew something was terribly wrong. We immediately ruled out egg binding; although she didn’t lay eggs in 2020, she still had a brood patch and was exhibiting her typical “running with sticks” behavior. She had previously laid eggs year every year from 1990 to 2019. She made it through the first night at Anne’s house and we are deeply grateful to Dr. Alison Hazel, and Dr. Kris Ahlgrim of Goldenview Veterinary Hospital for their outstanding and thorough care. By the end of that first week, we determined that Blondie had suffered a stroke or bleed of some kind. Radiographs (x-rays) also showed that her heart wasn’t in the best of shape either, with enlarged veins and arteries. Because the normal lifespan of a wild golden eagle is 20-30 years, we weren’t surprised at any of these findings. Her lungs, muscles and skeleton were in excellent shape without any signs of arthritis. We also performed an ultrasound on her abdomen, and other than a very active ovary, all seemed normal there.

Within 48 hours of the onset of symptoms, she was on heart medication to regulate rhythm and improve blood flow. We soon added Meloxicam, which saved the life of our old female bald eagle from Alaska who also suffered a stroke at age 29. I was hand-feeding her twice a day, and keeping her at a constant temperature of 80F. Almost two weeks later, she ate on her own for the first time and even took a bath. Each day, we watched her regain some strength and I was also helping her re-learn certain behaviors, such as stepping on a scale and jumping up to a perch. Blondie had even lost her voice, as many human patients do, but slowly regained it after about ten days.

Hope can be a wonderful, terrible thing. A recheck on April 15th showed that she had gained half a pound and was very responsive to stimuli. But she was also showing very faint signs of weakness in her left leg, and the exam left her tired for hours afterwards. Over the next two days, she was quiet, and lost some of her appetite. We increased her warmth and kept her indoors but I felt something was wrong. Overnight from April 17-18, she suffered another stroke, or possibly the clot in her brain moved and she lost the ability to control her legs and stand. We knew there was nothing else we could do for her and that we had to let her go, and finally rest. Words cannot adequately express our gratitude to Dr. Matthew Demey of Seven Hills Veterinary Hospital for his caring and gentle medical intervention, with virtually no notice, on a late Sunday afternoon.

Peter was with her for 39½ years…I was with her for 34½. Our profound grief is tempered with deep gratitude for her long and remarkable life. She changed the hearts and minds of ranchers who thought that eagles killed calves and carried away sheep. She made people realize that rabbits and prairie dogs, so often thought of as “vermin” and “disposable” animals, were the primary, critical source of food for her kind. Millions of people over the years looked her in the eye, saw that magnificent 6-foot wingspan, and realized that eagles and all raptors need to be protected. She brought people together and brought the wild world into classrooms and state fairs and churches and so many other places where eagles aren’t supposed to be. We have only ever shared the names of our birds after they have left us, because their lives and circumstances are too important, too serious to be reduced to a “pet” name. The mantra we’ve repeated for 40+ years is, “These birds are not our pets”. But it doesn’t mean we don’t love them, and treasure every moment we are privileged to care for and work with them. We have lost a member of our family and she was a once-in-a-lifetime bird. On behalf of our staff and docents, all of whom share in our collective grief, thank you for reading our tributes and for all your support that helped us care for her for nearly four decades.~ Anne Price, President