It's a small, small world

This is an amazing story. Back in 1991 I received a phone call from Al Cecere of the American Eagle Foundation in Pigeon Forge, TN. Yep, that's Dollywood. He was looking for a non-releasable young bald eagle to be sent to GA Southern Univ to replace one that they had and he wanted. It was a trade off, Al wanted the bird for educational work but so did GA Southern. I had a baby bald, FRENCHIE, that had a wound to one wing making her non-releasable so all the paperwork was completed and my bird went to GA so SPIRIT could go to TN.

Jump ahead to a few months ago. I got a call from Balsam Mountain Trust in Sylva, NC about a golden eagle I have that is non-releasable due to an eye injury. In the ongoing conversations Michael mentioned that they had a bald eagle and were having this golden added to their permit but it was taking the state of NC some time in issuing the permit. Finally the okay came through so yesterday he sent me copies of the permit. Lo and behold it included a letter from Al Cecere. I emailed Michael that I had sent a bald eagle to GA as a favor to Al way back when.

Here's the small, small world part.....Michael has that 18 year old bald eagle that Al got from GA when mine arrived to take her place. This eagle was captive hatched in MI and was released and recaptured three times, each time found starving. She was grounded for good. She apparently was just enough of an imprint to be very aggressive but not a good hunter. Yes, it is a very small world after all.