As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Wednesday 19 December 2012

New Mexico bird-of-prey rescue center threatened by lack of funds


The golden eagle’s nickname is James Dean. That’s because he’s a bad boy and a daredevil.
And a fighter.

The 2-year-old bird was rescued this year by a New Mexico nonprofit that assists wounded birds of prey after the creature was electrocuted on a power pole in the southern end of the state.

His body was ravaged by the electrical force. But he survived.

“They never live after accidents like this, but this one did. He’s just incredible,” Lori Paras, founder of the Santa Fe Raptor Center, told the Los Angeles Times.

The center has a long list of dramatic rescues of such birds as turkey vultures, Mississippi kites, red-tailed hawks, peregrine falcons and American kestrels — birds that flew into barbed-wire fences, were hit by cars or shot illegally by hunters. But after eight years, Paras says, the organization is in jeopardy of being shut down.

Paras and her team of wildlife experts, who operate on a shoestring budget of $60,000 a year,  are running out of funds and have just enough money to make it to the end of next month. To make matters worse, hers is one of just two facilities in the state licensed to handle golden eagles.

Part of the reason is that two other bird rescue outfits have recently closed down and now Paras is overrun with squawking, majestic birds. She has 21 in rehabilitation at her center, double its capacity. She also has 11 year-round residents she uses in a school education program over nine New Mexico counties.


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