Locals feared dead eagle was shot, but necropsy solves mystery, Calif. officials say
A bald eagle was found dead last month in Milpitas, California — and locals who loved the young raptor and its family feared something sinister.
Those worries weren’t unfounded: The eagle had been discovered dead near its nest on July 13 with “an obvious wound in the body cavity, generating speculation that it was poached,” according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
But authorities who investigated the bird’s mysterious death found that no gunshots had been reported nearby around the time of death, while an X-ray found no sign of metal bullet fragments in the animal’s body, state wildlife officials said in a Facebook post on Monday.
That’s when the bird was sent to an investigations lab in Rancho Cordova for a full necropsy, which revealed the actual cause of death: electrocution, according to wildlife officials.
Officials said electrocution deaths aren’t unheard of in eagles, adding that “such events happen on rare occasions.”
“It appears the juvenile eagle was nearly — but not fully — developed, and inadvertently flew into a power line,” officials explained. “Consultation with wildlife officers who have conducted similar investigations of raptor deaths, combined with the experience of our lab personnel, helped confirm the telltale entry and exit wounds of a fatal electrocution, thus concluding an investigation that generated intense local public interest.”
State officials said that the investigation’s result was an example that “sometimes, not everything is as it seems at first glance.”
Milpitas police thanked state wildlife officials last week “for their response and diligent investigation into this unfortunate incident.”
Police said the eagle had been found “on the ground beneath several power lines,” which were described as high voltage.
The eaglet was well fed, healthy and had no other injuries when it was found dead, police said.
The bald eagle’s parents settled in the Silicon Valley town several years ago, nesting in trees near Curtner Elementary School, according to police. The adult eagles hatched two eaglets this year. Those young birds were just learning to fly in July, police said.
This story was originally published August 5, 2019 at 7:21 PM with the headline "Locals feared dead eagle was shot, but necropsy solves mystery, Calif. officials say."
