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While game wardens spend much of their time patrolling to intercept wildlife violators hunting or fishing without a license, at other times, they are called upon to help out when there is an issue with the wildlife itself. Such was the case for Maine game warden Andy Gidden.
It turned out that two eagles fought for territory over local resident Mark Kowalski’s privately owned property, and crashed down on his front lawn. With talons locked, the eagles continued fighting and brawled into the woods.
Mark called his local game warden, and Andy sprang into action with his daughter Mikayla—a local wildlife student at the University of Maine. The two of them traveled to Mark’s property and found the tangled eagles. It took the three of them over half an hour to untangle the eagles.
Once the eagles had been freed, Andy realized the extent of their injuries and put a call in to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Bangor research office in Bangor. He described the injuries to wildlife biologist Brad Allen—a bird specialist.
Fortunately, Maine has a high-powered bird rehab center known as Avian Haven. Brad contacted them, and he, Andy, and Mikayla transported the eagles there. The folks at Avian Haven gave the birds a complete check-up including x-rays and a blood test. They also cleaned their wounds.
The eagles had no broken bones and were in much better shape than expected. The birds separately passed flight tests in flight cages at Avian Havens and were cleared for release back into the wild. Brad, Andy, and Mikayla drove back to the original location and released them. To prevent another epic battle, they set the eagles loose at some distance from one another.
Fortunately for the eagles, all turned out well in the end thanks to the combined efforts of concerned citizens, the game warden, and a research biologist.