January 29, 2025 • 35 mins
Newt talks with Jessica Hall, Executive Director of the American Eagle Foundation (AEF), located in Kodak, Tennessee. AEF is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation, education, and protection of bald eagles and other birds of prey. Founded in the 1980s by passionate conservationists, AEF has played a significant role in the resurgence of the bald eagle population in the United States. The foundation operates the nation's largest bald eagle sanctuary near Dollywood Theme Park and is currently raising funds to build a state-of-the-art rehabilitation hospital. AEF also engages in educational outreach, including field trips and digital classrooms, to inspire the next generation of conservationists. The foundation's efforts have been supported by various events, including flying eagles at football games and veterans' events, which help raise awareness and foster a connection between the public and these majestic birds.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
On this episode of New World. In the smoky Mountains
of Tennessee, home to Dolly Parton's famous Family amusement park Dollywood,
exists another amazing organization, the American Eagle Foundation, located in Kodak.
Founded in the nineteen eighties by several passionate conservationists, the
American Eagle Foundation is now a nonprofit organization inspiring the
(00:30):
global community to guard and protect the bald eagle and
all birds of prey. Their mission is to conserve, educate,
and protect. Here to discuss the American Eagle Foundation, I'm
really pleased to welcome my guest, Jessica Hall, Executive Director,
(00:57):
Jessica Welcome, and thank you for joining me on New World.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thank you, it's an honor to be here. We really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, it's great to find and as I watched the
Commanders versus Eagles football game, I realized I was watching
what we're going to talk about, So this will be fun.
How did the American Eagle Foundation begin and what inspired
its creation.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The American Eagle Foundation began in the nineteen eighties after
a very passionate wildlife resource agent named Bob Hatcher started
educating Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on the plight of the
bald eagle, and people came together through Cumberland Wildlife Refuge
(01:43):
and other concerned citizens to start actively really reigniting the
public passion around our nation's symbol, and as a result,
the National Organization to Protect America's Eagles was born and
that eventually became American Eagle Foundation.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
What was Hatcher's contribution, He clearly was a driving force.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
He was an incredible driving force. He was not only
passionate about our nation's symbol, but the fact that they
are an indicator species for how our environment is operating.
And he was an avid fisherman and so understanding that
bald eagle's habitats are naturally close to rivers, lakes and streams,
(02:30):
he wanted to try to protect those habitats in order
to enjoy his hobby.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
And wasn't the use of DDT and large scale a
significant factor in weakening eggshells and almost driving birds of
prey to extinction.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It absolutely was DDT. The consequences of using it in
households was horrific to the bald eagle population. In fact,
we ended up with less than forty nesting pairs in
the lower forty eight states to the United States of
America during its use.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And how many pairs would you guess there are.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Today at last count I would say that we have
upwards of maybe four hundred thousand bald eagles back in
the wild now. Bald eagle wildlife cams are also a
very popular option to view online, and we see that
the bald eagle is flourishing, that these cams are showing
(03:28):
us that they're continuing to mate successfully and those eaglets
are continuing to fledge successfully. There are still some threats
facing the bald eagle today, but it is significantly different
than it was in the height of DDT usage.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Kloster went to Luther College into Core, Iowa, and they
have a bald eagle cam for an eagle nest. Huge
number of people watch it. Absolutely it's a great example
of modern technology encouraging people to help preserve something that's
very ancient.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It is, and in fact, we saw a resurgence in
people enjoying these cameras during the COVID pandemic. When people
were at home, they would turn their screens on and
they would want to feel some sort of connection to
our wildlife into the outdoors. And so people started watching
eaglecams in record numbers into the hundreds of millions.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
If they go to American Eagle Foundation's website, can they
then find the eagle caams?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
They absolutely can. We have several. We have a Northeastern
Florida cam that has a very popular and flourishing ness there.
I think we have over twenty eglets that have successfully
fledged from that nest back into the wilds of Florida.
We also have a cam at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, which
(04:51):
is unique in one of a kind. Eagle Mountain Sanctuary,
which is actually located at Dollywood Theme Park, is the
nation largest bald eagle sanctuary. So whenever we have an
injured bald eagle that can't survive in the wild, we
provide a home for it there at the theme park.
It's a thirty eight thousand square foot aviary as close
(05:14):
to the natural wilds as you can get, right in
the heart of the Smoking Mountains.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So when people go to Dollywood they can go look
at the Eagle Sanctuary.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
They sure can. They can go see the eagles and
get up close to our nation's symbol, and it helps
inspire and cultivate this passion for bald eagles and patriotism.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
One of the things with the American Eagle Foundations I
understand it is you really have spent a lot of
time rehabilitating injured birds of prey.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
We have, and we're currently trying to raise money to
build the nation's largest wildlife bald eagle rehabilitation hospital. So
two years ago we bought forty eight eight at the
base of the Smoky Mountains in order to create a
hospital here. It is very centrally located off of the
(06:09):
I forty corridor, so that people can get injured bald
eagles to us quickly and we can provide the help
we need. And so we're currently running a capital campaign
to raise money to build that hospital right here.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Do you take care of birds of prey other than eagles?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We do. We have turkey vultures, we have black vultures.
Both of those animals are incredibly misunderstood, and those are
really our nation's clean up crew. They neutralize diseases such
as anthrax and botulism. And we also have hawks and
corvids and any number of birds of prey you can
(06:49):
find here at American Eagle Foundation.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
What is it that people misunderstand about vultures.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I think people naturally associate vultures as kind of this
nasty animal because they do see them on the sides
of the roads eating carrion. But what these animals truly
do is they take anything that is carrying disease and
they neutralize it and create a kind of harmonious environmental balance.
(07:20):
In fact, some Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokee, they
referred to the vulture as the peace eagle, not because
this bird was a symbol of any type of warrior mentality,
but because it could neutralize death and turn it into
energy for life.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
They must have very powerful stomachs.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
They do have powerful stomachs. In fact, the most some
people would say discussing I think it's kind of unique
way to ward off predators is they actually vomit as
predators are coming near them, and the smell of that
vomit is so powerful that it deters any predator that
was thinking about coming after them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
What kind of animals prey up on a vulture, you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Know, that's a great question. But hyenas, coyotes and other
animals would still try to prey upon vultures.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I have to ask him, because I was watching the
ballgame the other night. The Philadelphia Eagles I think had
Challenger there, didn't they.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
We actually had Lincoln there. Lincoln is Challenger's predecessor. Challenger
flew for the Philadelphia Eagles for many, many years, but
we retired him in twenty and eighteen due to cataracts.
And so with his cataracts and the onset of cataracts,
he wasn't able to locate the skycam wires as easily
(08:46):
as he was in the past, and so we made
the decision to retire him and began training Lincoln to
take over. And this was Lincoln's excuse the pun rookie
season with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he did a fantastic job.
We did seven flights for them. He nailed every single one.
(09:07):
And I cannot say enough good things about that organization
and what they do, from the players to the administrative
faults at the Philadelphia Eagles, they have absolutely welcomed us
with open arms.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Challengers sort of became the symbol of what you're doing.
What was Challenger's background and how did that develop?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Challenger was blown out of a nest in Louisiana as
an eaglet, very young eaglet, and He was found by
a well meaning citizen who took him home and was
wanting to just kind of raise him. I don't know
if they mistook him, maybe for another animal, but they
quickly realized they had a bald eagle on their hands
(09:51):
and surrendered him to a local vet. The vet tried
releasing him, and he was found on a fisherman's dock
back for food and a local fisherman was feeding him,
and at that point US Fish and Wildlife were called
in and they realized that they had an imprinted bald
eagle on their hands, and he was surrendered into our care.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So you have a very close relationship with fish and wildlife.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
We do. We have a very close relationship with the
United States Fish and Wildlife, the United States Department of Agriculture,
as well as their local counterpart, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
One Challenger was surrendered to US. We had a trainer
named John Stokes who had the idea that if he
could train Challenger to free fly using some falconry techniques,
(10:40):
that it would be a great opportunity to show people
the majesty of a bald eagle in flight and maybe
help people to realize why they wanted to save these animals,
and Challenger was actually the first eagle trained to free
fly in stadiums. Even before the Universe of Auburn ever
(11:01):
flew their first war eagle, Challenger was the first. In fact,
John went to the University of Auburn and helped teach
them some of the techniques that they use to fly
their war eagle to this day.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's great. So war eagle in a sense came with Challenger.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes, I think Auburn always had a bald eagle at
their games present, but it was always on a glove.
Challenger kind of inspired that new tradition that they have
today at flying war eagle before the games.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I remember being at the Portland Zoo one year and
they allowed me to have an eagle on my arm.
Eagles are really big.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
They are. Eagles are big animals, and I don't think
people realize how big they are until you get up
close to them. And their wingspan can reach up to
six and a half feet, which is just massive. It's
taller than most of us, certainly taller than meat, and
they're tall animals. When they're on your arm and you're
holding your arm up, I mean they could easily tower
(12:15):
over your head. Now, the cool thing about eagles, and
you obviously witness this firsthand, is that they don't necessarily
weigh very much. So Lincoln is around seven and a
half pounds. Their bodies are somewhat hollow, which enables them
to have greater aerodynamics.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
When I watch the eagles soar over the football stadium,
how hard is it to train the eagle to then
come back?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
That's such a great question. So we use a combination
of falconry techniques and modern training methods. So we're a
bird first towards facility, meaning that the bird behaviors tell
us what that bird wants to do and how they
want to act day. So if we feel like the
bird is not wanting to come out of its room
(13:05):
or doesn't feel like training that day, we do not
force that behavior. We allow that bird to tell us
what it wants to do, and we have those behaviors
downpath through observation, very careful observation and bonding with these animals.
So once you take a combination of these ancient falconry
(13:28):
techniques and you marry them with modern methods, you can
kind of create this really unique relationship dynamic between the
handler and the bird, and it's a trust dynamic between
human and wild animal because these animals are still class
two predators and they're an apex predator in their own rights.
So it takes a lot of time, energy and effort.
(13:50):
But once those techniques are incorporated and bonding time with
that bird happens, you can tell when a bird is
eager and one to do more, and you try to
encourage that behavior, and you try to give that animal
time and the opportunity to do the things that it
(14:11):
wants to do, such as fly or play or have
the kind of enrichment that it needs. The cool thing
about bald eagles, again, is that their natural state isn't
necessarily flying. Their natural state is perching. They perch and
they watch and they wait until the right moment to hunt.
(14:31):
They are definitely opportunistic predators and so perching is really
their natural state, and that's what you'll see a lot
in wildlife cams. You'll see them perching in the trees,
sitting in their nest, and flying to get food when
they need it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I take it though, that each eagle has its own personality.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
They do, and we try not to assign human characteristics
to their personalities, but sometimes we do. Lincoln is definitely
what we would consider being a very young, very eager bird,
wanting to prove himself, wanting to push himself. Challenger, obviously,
is an older bird. He's enjoying his retirement. He recently
(15:15):
underwent very successful cataract surgery at the University of Tennessee
Veterinary Clinic, and he enjoys taking his daily baths. He
still flies in his aviary, which are some of the
largest aviaries in the nation. He still flies in there,
He plays in there. He has lots of enrichment. He
still gets the opportunity to exercise when he wants to,
(15:36):
but he also enjoys, you know, the occasional piece of
salmon or rabbit and just hanging out in his aviary
kind of what I would equate with sitting on the
porch watching everything else happen around him.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
How old do they have to be for you to
consider training them?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So we operate the sanctuary here, and so all of
our animals are deemed non releasable by US Fish and Wildlife.
So we used to have a breeding program. We were
one of the only facilities in the nation allowed to
breed eagles during the height of the crisis, and we
released over one hundred and ninety bald eagles back into
(16:16):
the wild. But now we no longer breed bald eagles,
so any eagle that comes to us is an eagle
that's been injured. We recently received two juvenile bald eagles.
One the nest that the eaglet was in the tree
blew over into the river in a storm. The eglet
(16:38):
was rescued and it was still a juvenile and in
the water, it struggled a bit and had to be
given to veterinary care. In veterinary care, it was there
for about six weeks just trying to get all the
water that it had aspirated out of its system. And
(16:59):
during that time, even though you're trying to be very
careful and make sure that you're not imprinting on this bird,
unfortunately that bird was imprinted on, which is what we
mean when we say that is associating humans with food.
So the hacking instinct, which is their instinct to hunt,
(17:20):
never kicks in. And at that point, when a bird
associates humans with food, it's deemed non releasable because if
you tried to release it into the wild, it would
fly to humans and try to get food, which is
definitely not something that is safe.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So it basically never learned to hunt wildlife and learned
to go to people for.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Food exactly, and as a result, it was deemed non
releasable and given to our care. So that egle is
physically perfect but unable to survive on its own in
the wild. And it's still a juvenile eagle, which means
that the white head and the white tail hasn't fully
(18:02):
grown in yet, so it still has brown feathering. The
white head and the tail don't come in till about
five years of age. So we start very slowly by
just building a relationship with that bird, and when we
go into the aviary to feed the bird, we might
sit in the corner and just sit while the bird
(18:23):
plays in its aviary and flies around, just so that
it gets used to us and understands that we're not
a threat to it, and eventually the bird will become
curious enough to approach the human in its aviary and
maybe start taking food off the glove, and then we'll
try feeding it on the glove and then doing behaviors
(18:45):
like step ups where we encourage the eagle to step
up onto the glove. And although these are also training behaviors,
it's also a way to provide the right kind of
vet care. So we have physicals bi annually on all
of our birds, and we need the bird to be
able to step up on the gloves so that we
can check its keel, make sure that it has the
(19:06):
right feather coloring, make sure that it has the right wingspan,
and also to weigh the eagle. So although these are
training techniques, it's not just to teach the animal necessarily
how to fly in a stadium, but also to provide
the behaviors that we need in order to keep it
safe and healthy.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So you have these folks who are out here doing
an amazing job of handling eagles, which are an art
form of its own. How long does it take to
learn to be a handler?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Generally, handlers would go to school for something like biology
or wildlife sciences or any number of those degrees, and
then they would go into the field of zoology. And
a handler could come to us with a bachelor's degree
and then be trained in American Eagle Foundation training methods
(20:00):
and techniques, and it could take anywhere from twelve to
twenty four months to graduate from a screech out handling
a screech out all the way up to handling a
bald eagle. Again, you really have to build relationships with
those birds and you have to have a dedicated mindset
(20:20):
to spend time in an aviary with a class two
predator while it's flying around you and learn to trust
that animal and build trust in that animal for you.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Do you ever feed them live food or is that
too dangerous?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We don't feed them live food. We only source our
food from humanly source vendors, so our food does come
in already dead and it's usually frozen. We provide a
very varied diet, so we try to get as close
to the wild as possible. Rabbits, quail fish, and rat mice,
(21:00):
those are all things that would naturally fall into a
diet of a bald eagle.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Historically, this may be a common On my limited experience
with I identify them as really good fish hunters, maybe
because you can catch them out in the open on
rivers and lakes, but it's amazing to watch them.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Absolutely. We actually have a lot of mountain trout that
we feed our birds, because that would be a very
natural thing that they would have in the wild here.
So we do source from a local trout farm and
their main diet is fish, but we do try to
keep it varied for them for several reasons. It keeps
(21:38):
their beaks healthy and strong, and you know, sometimes you
feel like pizza, sometimes you feel like a hate burger.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Can you keep the eagles together or do they have
to be separate?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, eagles are naturally social creatures, so for instance, that
Eagle Mountain Sanctuary in Dollywood, those eagles are together and
they enjoy that kind of of interaction. They're very social animals,
and eagles do mate for life. Now, if their mate
were killed or missing, they may mate again, but when
(22:11):
they have the opportunity, they mate for life.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
If this is going to be a lifetime relationship, what
is kind of a dating process.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So they do find each other in the wild during
mating season, which runs at different times throughout the US.
But basically they would be in each other's territory and
they are attracted to the heat signatures of other bald eagles.
Once they find each other, they might perform a mating dance,
(22:42):
which is where they will lock talents in the air
and kind of do a spiral, they will start to
build a nest together and at that point they become
what we call a mated bonded pair.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Have you ever dealt with golden eagles or only with
bald eagles?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
We do have two golden eagles here. Golden eagles are
incredibly beautiful animals. They actually fly higher than bald eagles
and they're just absolutely gorgeous. If you have the opportunity
to see a golden eagle up close, you'll be amazed
at the coloring.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Now do you ever deal with icepray?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
We actually have an osprey here in our care, this
particular osprey, her name is Styx st y X. She
was found on a platform here locally, the local energy
company had built a platform for the ospreys to nest
and she had fallen in between the cracks of the
platform and her legs were splayed, and unfortunately that injury
(23:59):
prevented her from living into the wild, so she was
rescued and brought to us. She is a fantastic educational ambassador,
and I would even argue that osprey are just incredible
anglers fisher. The things that an osprey can do are
just really really unique.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
It's amazing to watch an osprey going after fish.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And they have this kind of naturally, what I would
almost say, menacing air about them. Their eyes are penetratingly
yellow or orange. They're not a bird you want to
mess with, for sure. And osprey and eagles are known
to kind of fight over territory.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Are they more aggressive than eagles?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I would say that they're very protective of their territory
and they don't want anyone coming into their area, and
they will absolutely fight for their space.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Benjamin Franklin wanted the American bird to be a turkey,
which I think would somehow have been a totally different experience.
How did the bald eagle beat out the turkey?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
You know, we're really not sure. We hear so much
different lore about that interaction. I wish I could ask
Benjamin Franklin why he wanted the turkey. But I think
the bald eagle beat out the turkey just because of
its majesty. There's a naturally regal air about the bald eagle,
even perched in a tree. They have this unique characteristic
(25:34):
of majesty, I guess is really the best way to
describe it. And I think in that timeframe they were
probably very prevalent in the wild. They were beautiful birds,
and people were most likely just enamored of them and
felt like this would be a great representation of this beautiful,
fledgling country. And I think they chose wisely.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
There's no quote in terms of just sheer beauty. But
Franklin did not like eagles. They said they're basically cowardly birds,
and that the turkey is magnificent and you can eat it,
so I would. It's one of those things. But I
think for most Americans there is something about the look
of a bald eagle that's kind of what you want
America to be. It's courageous, it looks directly at you,
(26:22):
It's magnificent as an animal.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And I'm not sure why he felt like the bald
eagles cowardly, because they certainly are not. They're beautiful animals.
And another really cool thing that I think a lot
of people don't know is that bald eagles are endemic
to North America, so they don't exist anywhere else in
the world other than Canada and the United States. Now,
(26:45):
there are other eagles, like sea eagles, who look similar,
but the bald eagle exists here and so I think
ultimately we made absolutely the right choice, and it's represented
in the Great Seal on the Press re Sidential flag
and most armed services flags. It's also such a unifying
(27:06):
symbol and not divisive at all. In fact, during the seventies,
eighties and nineties, when the crisis around the bald eagle
was at its peak, all of America unified to help
save the bald eagle. We all rallied together to keep
this animal from the brink of extinction. And I think
(27:27):
that's just something that Americans can be very, very proud of.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
It was put on a danger speech list in nineteen
sixty seven, and forty years later on two thousand and seven,
it came off. Once you let them alone, they have
a natural pattern of reproducing and creating huge numbers. Somebody
has made the like seventy one thousand nesting pairs in
the continental US.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, we want to keep that animal alive and well because,
as I mentioned before, they are indicator species for how
our environ around us is operating. And if the bald
eagle is flourishing, you can feel good knowing that the
environment around it is flourishing. And they are species that
(28:12):
again live on rivers, lakes, streams close to natural sources
of water, and it's a great indicator for how our
fish species are flourishing. So knowing that they are making
a very popular comeback is something that we can all
really feel excited about.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I've noticed that there's an increasing number of collisions. To
what extent are drones potentially dangerous to eagles?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I would say drones pose a risk to our bald eagles.
Wind turbines also pose a risk. There have been several
collisions with wind turbines. I think our bald eagles there
are several threats that still face them today. I certainly
don't think they're as prevalent as the threat that DT posed,
(29:01):
but we still have threats, particularly highly pathogenic avian influenza,
which is making a comeback in the United States. I
think that is something that we definitely need to keep
an eye on monofilament line. We still have entangled bald
eagles in our rivers and lakes where monofilament is left behind,
(29:23):
So I think we have to really encourage our sports
men and women and our outdoors people to recycle that monofilament.
We support hunting and fishing as valuable conservation tools. We
think they are valuable conservation tools and they help keep
the environment regulated, but we just definitely want to remind
(29:43):
people to recycle that monofilament. And then lead poisoning is
another big threat that bald eagles face, and a lot
of times when hunters might use lead shot and leave
pieces of a carcass behind that has lead in it,
and a bald eagle might stumble upon it, a vulture
(30:04):
might stumble upon it and feed upon the carcass, that
lead gets in their system and then inevitably will kill
the bald eagle or the vulture. So those are still
things that we as an organization try to educate people
on today.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I didn't realize that the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection
Act goes all the way back to nineteen forty. I
mean that we've had a very long period of being concerned.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
About these absolutely, and it's an act that we bring
up probably on a daily basis. Here we take care
of protected species and something that we're very proud of,
and these species are still protected. They're not necessarily on
the endangered species list, but they're still protected here in
the US. It's illegal to own a golden or bald
(30:49):
eagle feather. You know, it does carry a fine. In fact,
when we clean our aviaries, if a feather has molted,
we keep it and then compile log it and send
it to the Federal Reserve, where the Federal Reserve then
distributes them to local and nationally federally recognized tribes for
(31:10):
ceremonial purposes.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
How far away do you get eagles from.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We've gotten bald eagles from Alaska, and we've gotten bald
eagles from Florida. We've gotten bald eagles from Arizona. Really
all over the world. We got one from New York
last year. We accept them from all over the United States.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You've been taking eagles to a lot of different events.
What would you say was the most exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
We have done a lot of events, but I would
say probably the most exciting and meaningful for us are veterans'
events or children's events. Watching a veteran look at a
bald eagle, and again, bald eagles are represented on most
United States Armed Forces flags. They see that bald eagle,
(31:58):
and they see characteristics in that eagle that resonate within
themselves in their service to the United States, and it's
a powerful, powerful thing to witness. Flying for football games
is great, and it allows us to educate on a
mass scale, but seeing that interaction between a veteran or
(32:19):
an active service member with a bald eagle is probably
the most powerful, beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
What's next for the American Eagle Foundation and what are
things people can get involved with to help the American
Eagle Foundation?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh Man, this a wonderful question. So definitely, our rehabilitation
hospital is next on the agenda. We want to open
that rehab hospital hopefully by the talent of twenty twenty six,
which is also America two fifty. We think that would
be a great time to really be able to announce
that those threats that still face bald eagles today were
(32:57):
prepared and ready to support those animals. I think also
we've recently seen a resurgence in patriotism. For a while,
we were kind of forgotten as American Eagle Foundation, and
people are starting to hear our name again and recognize
the work that we do, and we just hope that
(33:18):
folks will continue to want to support the American Egle
Foundation through donations, going to our website and learning more
at our new facility, we actually host field trips for
all of our kids in the area, and we can
also provide those same field trips digitally for schools that
aren't near us, and we can bring a bird into
(33:39):
our digital classroom and interact with students across the United
States of America. We really want to educate that next generation.
As you and I have been talking gen X. So
I grew up recognizing the bald eagles and endangered species,
and now it's off the list, and there's so many
other animals that are on the list that the baldigle's
(34:02):
kind of been forgotten. And even my children didn't have
the kind of reverence and awe for the baldigle that
I did. And so we really want to educate and
cultivate a passion for our nation symbol in the next generation.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
That's really great. Well, look, I'm going to thank you
for joining me and for sharing the story of the
American Eagle Foundation. Our listeners can find out more by
visiting your website at Eagles dot org, and I encourage
them to do so.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Thank you so much. It was an honor and a
pleasure speaking with you today.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Thank you to my guest Jessica Hall. You can learn
more about the American Eagle Foundation on our show page
at newtsworld dot com. News World is produced by Genglish
three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Slum.
Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team
(34:59):
at English three sixty. If you've been enjoying nuts World,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners
of newts World concerned up for my three free weekly
columns at Gingwishtree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Gingwich.
This is neut World
On this episode of New World. In the smoky Mountains
of Tennessee, home to Dolly Parton's famous Family amusement park Dollywood,
exists another amazing organization, the American Eagle Foundation, located in Kodak.
Founded in the nineteen eighties by several passionate conservationists, the
American Eagle Foundation is now a nonprofit organization inspiring the
(00:30):
global community to guard and protect the bald eagle and
all birds of prey. Their mission is to conserve, educate,
and protect. Here to discuss the American Eagle Foundation, I'm
really pleased to welcome my guest, Jessica Hall, Executive Director,
(00:57):
Jessica Welcome, and thank you for joining me on New World.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Thank you, it's an honor to be here. We really
appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Well, it's great to find and as I watched the
Commanders versus Eagles football game, I realized I was watching
what we're going to talk about, So this will be fun.
How did the American Eagle Foundation begin and what inspired
its creation.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
The American Eagle Foundation began in the nineteen eighties after
a very passionate wildlife resource agent named Bob Hatcher started
educating Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency on the plight of the
bald eagle, and people came together through Cumberland Wildlife Refuge
(01:43):
and other concerned citizens to start actively really reigniting the
public passion around our nation's symbol, and as a result,
the National Organization to Protect America's Eagles was born and
that eventually became American Eagle Foundation.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
What was Hatcher's contribution, He clearly was a driving force.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
He was an incredible driving force. He was not only
passionate about our nation's symbol, but the fact that they
are an indicator species for how our environment is operating.
And he was an avid fisherman and so understanding that
bald eagle's habitats are naturally close to rivers, lakes and streams,
(02:30):
he wanted to try to protect those habitats in order
to enjoy his hobby.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
And wasn't the use of DDT and large scale a
significant factor in weakening eggshells and almost driving birds of
prey to extinction.
Speaker 2 (02:45):
It absolutely was DDT. The consequences of using it in
households was horrific to the bald eagle population. In fact,
we ended up with less than forty nesting pairs in
the lower forty eight states to the United States of
America during its use.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
And how many pairs would you guess there are.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
Today at last count I would say that we have
upwards of maybe four hundred thousand bald eagles back in
the wild now. Bald eagle wildlife cams are also a
very popular option to view online, and we see that
the bald eagle is flourishing, that these cams are showing
(03:28):
us that they're continuing to mate successfully and those eaglets
are continuing to fledge successfully. There are still some threats
facing the bald eagle today, but it is significantly different
than it was in the height of DDT usage.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Kloster went to Luther College into Core, Iowa, and they
have a bald eagle cam for an eagle nest. Huge
number of people watch it. Absolutely it's a great example
of modern technology encouraging people to help preserve something that's
very ancient.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It is, and in fact, we saw a resurgence in
people enjoying these cameras during the COVID pandemic. When people
were at home, they would turn their screens on and
they would want to feel some sort of connection to
our wildlife into the outdoors. And so people started watching
eaglecams in record numbers into the hundreds of millions.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
If they go to American Eagle Foundation's website, can they
then find the eagle caams?
Speaker 2 (04:31):
They absolutely can. We have several. We have a Northeastern
Florida cam that has a very popular and flourishing ness there.
I think we have over twenty eglets that have successfully
fledged from that nest back into the wilds of Florida.
We also have a cam at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary, which
(04:51):
is unique in one of a kind. Eagle Mountain Sanctuary,
which is actually located at Dollywood Theme Park, is the
nation largest bald eagle sanctuary. So whenever we have an
injured bald eagle that can't survive in the wild, we
provide a home for it there at the theme park.
It's a thirty eight thousand square foot aviary as close
(05:14):
to the natural wilds as you can get, right in
the heart of the Smoking Mountains.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
So when people go to Dollywood they can go look
at the Eagle Sanctuary.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
They sure can. They can go see the eagles and
get up close to our nation's symbol, and it helps
inspire and cultivate this passion for bald eagles and patriotism.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
One of the things with the American Eagle Foundations I
understand it is you really have spent a lot of
time rehabilitating injured birds of prey.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
We have, and we're currently trying to raise money to
build the nation's largest wildlife bald eagle rehabilitation hospital. So
two years ago we bought forty eight eight at the
base of the Smoky Mountains in order to create a
hospital here. It is very centrally located off of the
(06:09):
I forty corridor, so that people can get injured bald
eagles to us quickly and we can provide the help
we need. And so we're currently running a capital campaign
to raise money to build that hospital right here.
Speaker 1 (06:23):
Do you take care of birds of prey other than eagles?
Speaker 2 (06:27):
We do. We have turkey vultures, we have black vultures.
Both of those animals are incredibly misunderstood, and those are
really our nation's clean up crew. They neutralize diseases such
as anthrax and botulism. And we also have hawks and
corvids and any number of birds of prey you can
(06:49):
find here at American Eagle Foundation.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
What is it that people misunderstand about vultures.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I think people naturally associate vultures as kind of this
nasty animal because they do see them on the sides
of the roads eating carrion. But what these animals truly
do is they take anything that is carrying disease and
they neutralize it and create a kind of harmonious environmental balance.
(07:20):
In fact, some Native American tribes, particularly the Cherokee, they
referred to the vulture as the peace eagle, not because
this bird was a symbol of any type of warrior mentality,
but because it could neutralize death and turn it into
energy for life.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
They must have very powerful stomachs.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
They do have powerful stomachs. In fact, the most some
people would say discussing I think it's kind of unique
way to ward off predators is they actually vomit as
predators are coming near them, and the smell of that
vomit is so powerful that it deters any predator that
was thinking about coming after them.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
What kind of animals prey up on a vulture, you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
Know, that's a great question. But hyenas, coyotes and other
animals would still try to prey upon vultures.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
I have to ask him, because I was watching the
ballgame the other night. The Philadelphia Eagles I think had
Challenger there, didn't they.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
We actually had Lincoln there. Lincoln is Challenger's predecessor. Challenger
flew for the Philadelphia Eagles for many, many years, but
we retired him in twenty and eighteen due to cataracts.
And so with his cataracts and the onset of cataracts,
he wasn't able to locate the skycam wires as easily
(08:46):
as he was in the past, and so we made
the decision to retire him and began training Lincoln to
take over. And this was Lincoln's excuse the pun rookie
season with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he did a fantastic job.
We did seven flights for them. He nailed every single one.
(09:07):
And I cannot say enough good things about that organization
and what they do, from the players to the administrative
faults at the Philadelphia Eagles, they have absolutely welcomed us
with open arms.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Challengers sort of became the symbol of what you're doing.
What was Challenger's background and how did that develop?
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Challenger was blown out of a nest in Louisiana as
an eaglet, very young eaglet, and He was found by
a well meaning citizen who took him home and was
wanting to just kind of raise him. I don't know
if they mistook him, maybe for another animal, but they
quickly realized they had a bald eagle on their hands
(09:51):
and surrendered him to a local vet. The vet tried
releasing him, and he was found on a fisherman's dock
back for food and a local fisherman was feeding him,
and at that point US Fish and Wildlife were called
in and they realized that they had an imprinted bald
eagle on their hands, and he was surrendered into our care.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
So you have a very close relationship with fish and wildlife.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
We do. We have a very close relationship with the
United States Fish and Wildlife, the United States Department of Agriculture,
as well as their local counterpart, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
One Challenger was surrendered to US. We had a trainer
named John Stokes who had the idea that if he
could train Challenger to free fly using some falconry techniques,
(10:40):
that it would be a great opportunity to show people
the majesty of a bald eagle in flight and maybe
help people to realize why they wanted to save these animals,
and Challenger was actually the first eagle trained to free
fly in stadiums. Even before the Universe of Auburn ever
(11:01):
flew their first war eagle, Challenger was the first. In fact,
John went to the University of Auburn and helped teach
them some of the techniques that they use to fly
their war eagle to this day.
Speaker 1 (11:12):
That's great. So war eagle in a sense came with Challenger.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
Yes, I think Auburn always had a bald eagle at
their games present, but it was always on a glove.
Challenger kind of inspired that new tradition that they have
today at flying war eagle before the games.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
I remember being at the Portland Zoo one year and
they allowed me to have an eagle on my arm.
Eagles are really big.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
They are. Eagles are big animals, and I don't think
people realize how big they are until you get up
close to them. And their wingspan can reach up to
six and a half feet, which is just massive. It's
taller than most of us, certainly taller than meat, and
they're tall animals. When they're on your arm and you're
holding your arm up, I mean they could easily tower
(12:15):
over your head. Now, the cool thing about eagles, and
you obviously witness this firsthand, is that they don't necessarily
weigh very much. So Lincoln is around seven and a
half pounds. Their bodies are somewhat hollow, which enables them
to have greater aerodynamics.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
When I watch the eagles soar over the football stadium,
how hard is it to train the eagle to then
come back?
Speaker 2 (12:42):
That's such a great question. So we use a combination
of falconry techniques and modern training methods. So we're a
bird first towards facility, meaning that the bird behaviors tell
us what that bird wants to do and how they
want to act day. So if we feel like the
bird is not wanting to come out of its room
(13:05):
or doesn't feel like training that day, we do not
force that behavior. We allow that bird to tell us
what it wants to do, and we have those behaviors
downpath through observation, very careful observation and bonding with these animals.
So once you take a combination of these ancient falconry
(13:28):
techniques and you marry them with modern methods, you can
kind of create this really unique relationship dynamic between the
handler and the bird, and it's a trust dynamic between
human and wild animal because these animals are still class
two predators and they're an apex predator in their own rights.
So it takes a lot of time, energy and effort.
(13:50):
But once those techniques are incorporated and bonding time with
that bird happens, you can tell when a bird is
eager and one to do more, and you try to
encourage that behavior, and you try to give that animal
time and the opportunity to do the things that it
(14:11):
wants to do, such as fly or play or have
the kind of enrichment that it needs. The cool thing
about bald eagles, again, is that their natural state isn't
necessarily flying. Their natural state is perching. They perch and
they watch and they wait until the right moment to hunt.
(14:31):
They are definitely opportunistic predators and so perching is really
their natural state, and that's what you'll see a lot
in wildlife cams. You'll see them perching in the trees,
sitting in their nest, and flying to get food when
they need it.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
I take it though, that each eagle has its own personality.
Speaker 2 (14:50):
They do, and we try not to assign human characteristics
to their personalities, but sometimes we do. Lincoln is definitely
what we would consider being a very young, very eager bird,
wanting to prove himself, wanting to push himself. Challenger, obviously,
is an older bird. He's enjoying his retirement. He recently
(15:15):
underwent very successful cataract surgery at the University of Tennessee
Veterinary Clinic, and he enjoys taking his daily baths. He
still flies in his aviary, which are some of the
largest aviaries in the nation. He still flies in there,
He plays in there. He has lots of enrichment. He
still gets the opportunity to exercise when he wants to,
(15:36):
but he also enjoys, you know, the occasional piece of
salmon or rabbit and just hanging out in his aviary
kind of what I would equate with sitting on the
porch watching everything else happen around him.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
How old do they have to be for you to
consider training them?
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So we operate the sanctuary here, and so all of
our animals are deemed non releasable by US Fish and Wildlife.
So we used to have a breeding program. We were
one of the only facilities in the nation allowed to
breed eagles during the height of the crisis, and we
released over one hundred and ninety bald eagles back into
(16:16):
the wild. But now we no longer breed bald eagles,
so any eagle that comes to us is an eagle
that's been injured. We recently received two juvenile bald eagles.
One the nest that the eaglet was in the tree
blew over into the river in a storm. The eglet
(16:38):
was rescued and it was still a juvenile and in
the water, it struggled a bit and had to be
given to veterinary care. In veterinary care, it was there
for about six weeks just trying to get all the
water that it had aspirated out of its system. And
(16:59):
during that time, even though you're trying to be very
careful and make sure that you're not imprinting on this bird,
unfortunately that bird was imprinted on, which is what we
mean when we say that is associating humans with food.
So the hacking instinct, which is their instinct to hunt,
(17:20):
never kicks in. And at that point, when a bird
associates humans with food, it's deemed non releasable because if
you tried to release it into the wild, it would
fly to humans and try to get food, which is
definitely not something that is safe.
Speaker 1 (17:36):
So it basically never learned to hunt wildlife and learned
to go to people for.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Food exactly, and as a result, it was deemed non
releasable and given to our care. So that egle is
physically perfect but unable to survive on its own in
the wild. And it's still a juvenile eagle, which means
that the white head and the white tail hasn't fully
(18:02):
grown in yet, so it still has brown feathering. The
white head and the tail don't come in till about
five years of age. So we start very slowly by
just building a relationship with that bird, and when we
go into the aviary to feed the bird, we might
sit in the corner and just sit while the bird
(18:23):
plays in its aviary and flies around, just so that
it gets used to us and understands that we're not
a threat to it, and eventually the bird will become
curious enough to approach the human in its aviary and
maybe start taking food off the glove, and then we'll
try feeding it on the glove and then doing behaviors
(18:45):
like step ups where we encourage the eagle to step
up onto the glove. And although these are also training behaviors,
it's also a way to provide the right kind of
vet care. So we have physicals bi annually on all
of our birds, and we need the bird to be
able to step up on the gloves so that we
can check its keel, make sure that it has the
(19:06):
right feather coloring, make sure that it has the right wingspan,
and also to weigh the eagle. So although these are
training techniques, it's not just to teach the animal necessarily
how to fly in a stadium, but also to provide
the behaviors that we need in order to keep it
safe and healthy.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
So you have these folks who are out here doing
an amazing job of handling eagles, which are an art
form of its own. How long does it take to
learn to be a handler?
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Generally, handlers would go to school for something like biology
or wildlife sciences or any number of those degrees, and
then they would go into the field of zoology. And
a handler could come to us with a bachelor's degree
and then be trained in American Eagle Foundation training methods
(20:00):
and techniques, and it could take anywhere from twelve to
twenty four months to graduate from a screech out handling
a screech out all the way up to handling a
bald eagle. Again, you really have to build relationships with
those birds and you have to have a dedicated mindset
(20:20):
to spend time in an aviary with a class two
predator while it's flying around you and learn to trust
that animal and build trust in that animal for you.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Do you ever feed them live food or is that
too dangerous?
Speaker 2 (20:36):
We don't feed them live food. We only source our
food from humanly source vendors, so our food does come
in already dead and it's usually frozen. We provide a
very varied diet, so we try to get as close
to the wild as possible. Rabbits, quail fish, and rat mice,
(21:00):
those are all things that would naturally fall into a
diet of a bald eagle.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
Historically, this may be a common On my limited experience
with I identify them as really good fish hunters, maybe
because you can catch them out in the open on
rivers and lakes, but it's amazing to watch them.
Speaker 2 (21:17):
Absolutely. We actually have a lot of mountain trout that
we feed our birds, because that would be a very
natural thing that they would have in the wild here.
So we do source from a local trout farm and
their main diet is fish, but we do try to
keep it varied for them for several reasons. It keeps
(21:38):
their beaks healthy and strong, and you know, sometimes you
feel like pizza, sometimes you feel like a hate burger.
Speaker 1 (21:45):
Can you keep the eagles together or do they have
to be separate?
Speaker 2 (21:48):
Well, eagles are naturally social creatures, so for instance, that
Eagle Mountain Sanctuary in Dollywood, those eagles are together and
they enjoy that kind of of interaction. They're very social animals,
and eagles do mate for life. Now, if their mate
were killed or missing, they may mate again, but when
(22:11):
they have the opportunity, they mate for life.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
If this is going to be a lifetime relationship, what
is kind of a dating process.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So they do find each other in the wild during
mating season, which runs at different times throughout the US.
But basically they would be in each other's territory and
they are attracted to the heat signatures of other bald eagles.
Once they find each other, they might perform a mating dance,
(22:42):
which is where they will lock talents in the air
and kind of do a spiral, they will start to
build a nest together and at that point they become
what we call a mated bonded pair.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Have you ever dealt with golden eagles or only with
bald eagles?
Speaker 2 (23:16):
We do have two golden eagles here. Golden eagles are
incredibly beautiful animals. They actually fly higher than bald eagles
and they're just absolutely gorgeous. If you have the opportunity
to see a golden eagle up close, you'll be amazed
at the coloring.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Now do you ever deal with icepray?
Speaker 2 (23:36):
We actually have an osprey here in our care, this
particular osprey, her name is Styx st y X. She
was found on a platform here locally, the local energy
company had built a platform for the ospreys to nest
and she had fallen in between the cracks of the
platform and her legs were splayed, and unfortunately that injury
(23:59):
prevented her from living into the wild, so she was
rescued and brought to us. She is a fantastic educational ambassador,
and I would even argue that osprey are just incredible
anglers fisher. The things that an osprey can do are
just really really unique.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
It's amazing to watch an osprey going after fish.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
And they have this kind of naturally, what I would
almost say, menacing air about them. Their eyes are penetratingly
yellow or orange. They're not a bird you want to
mess with, for sure. And osprey and eagles are known
to kind of fight over territory.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Are they more aggressive than eagles?
Speaker 2 (24:43):
I would say that they're very protective of their territory
and they don't want anyone coming into their area, and
they will absolutely fight for their space.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
Benjamin Franklin wanted the American bird to be a turkey,
which I think would somehow have been a totally different experience.
How did the bald eagle beat out the turkey?
Speaker 2 (25:07):
You know, we're really not sure. We hear so much
different lore about that interaction. I wish I could ask
Benjamin Franklin why he wanted the turkey. But I think
the bald eagle beat out the turkey just because of
its majesty. There's a naturally regal air about the bald eagle,
even perched in a tree. They have this unique characteristic
(25:34):
of majesty, I guess is really the best way to
describe it. And I think in that timeframe they were
probably very prevalent in the wild. They were beautiful birds,
and people were most likely just enamored of them and
felt like this would be a great representation of this beautiful,
fledgling country. And I think they chose wisely.
Speaker 1 (25:59):
There's no quote in terms of just sheer beauty. But
Franklin did not like eagles. They said they're basically cowardly birds,
and that the turkey is magnificent and you can eat it,
so I would. It's one of those things. But I
think for most Americans there is something about the look
of a bald eagle that's kind of what you want
America to be. It's courageous, it looks directly at you,
(26:22):
It's magnificent as an animal.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
And I'm not sure why he felt like the bald
eagles cowardly, because they certainly are not. They're beautiful animals.
And another really cool thing that I think a lot
of people don't know is that bald eagles are endemic
to North America, so they don't exist anywhere else in
the world other than Canada and the United States. Now,
(26:45):
there are other eagles, like sea eagles, who look similar,
but the bald eagle exists here and so I think
ultimately we made absolutely the right choice, and it's represented
in the Great Seal on the Press re Sidential flag
and most armed services flags. It's also such a unifying
(27:06):
symbol and not divisive at all. In fact, during the seventies,
eighties and nineties, when the crisis around the bald eagle
was at its peak, all of America unified to help
save the bald eagle. We all rallied together to keep
this animal from the brink of extinction. And I think
(27:27):
that's just something that Americans can be very, very proud of.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
It was put on a danger speech list in nineteen
sixty seven, and forty years later on two thousand and seven,
it came off. Once you let them alone, they have
a natural pattern of reproducing and creating huge numbers. Somebody
has made the like seventy one thousand nesting pairs in
the continental US.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
Yeah, we want to keep that animal alive and well because,
as I mentioned before, they are indicator species for how
our environ around us is operating. And if the bald
eagle is flourishing, you can feel good knowing that the
environment around it is flourishing. And they are species that
(28:12):
again live on rivers, lakes, streams close to natural sources
of water, and it's a great indicator for how our
fish species are flourishing. So knowing that they are making
a very popular comeback is something that we can all
really feel excited about.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
I've noticed that there's an increasing number of collisions. To
what extent are drones potentially dangerous to eagles?
Speaker 2 (28:40):
I would say drones pose a risk to our bald eagles.
Wind turbines also pose a risk. There have been several
collisions with wind turbines. I think our bald eagles there
are several threats that still face them today. I certainly
don't think they're as prevalent as the threat that DT posed,
(29:01):
but we still have threats, particularly highly pathogenic avian influenza,
which is making a comeback in the United States. I
think that is something that we definitely need to keep
an eye on monofilament line. We still have entangled bald
eagles in our rivers and lakes where monofilament is left behind,
(29:23):
So I think we have to really encourage our sports
men and women and our outdoors people to recycle that monofilament.
We support hunting and fishing as valuable conservation tools. We
think they are valuable conservation tools and they help keep
the environment regulated, but we just definitely want to remind
(29:43):
people to recycle that monofilament. And then lead poisoning is
another big threat that bald eagles face, and a lot
of times when hunters might use lead shot and leave
pieces of a carcass behind that has lead in it,
and a bald eagle might stumble upon it, a vulture
(30:04):
might stumble upon it and feed upon the carcass, that
lead gets in their system and then inevitably will kill
the bald eagle or the vulture. So those are still
things that we as an organization try to educate people
on today.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
I didn't realize that the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection
Act goes all the way back to nineteen forty. I
mean that we've had a very long period of being concerned.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
About these absolutely, and it's an act that we bring
up probably on a daily basis. Here we take care
of protected species and something that we're very proud of,
and these species are still protected. They're not necessarily on
the endangered species list, but they're still protected here in
the US. It's illegal to own a golden or bald
(30:49):
eagle feather. You know, it does carry a fine. In fact,
when we clean our aviaries, if a feather has molted,
we keep it and then compile log it and send
it to the Federal Reserve, where the Federal Reserve then
distributes them to local and nationally federally recognized tribes for
(31:10):
ceremonial purposes.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
How far away do you get eagles from.
Speaker 2 (31:14):
We've gotten bald eagles from Alaska, and we've gotten bald
eagles from Florida. We've gotten bald eagles from Arizona. Really
all over the world. We got one from New York
last year. We accept them from all over the United States.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
You've been taking eagles to a lot of different events.
What would you say was the most exciting.
Speaker 2 (31:35):
We have done a lot of events, but I would
say probably the most exciting and meaningful for us are veterans'
events or children's events. Watching a veteran look at a
bald eagle, and again, bald eagles are represented on most
United States Armed Forces flags. They see that bald eagle,
(31:58):
and they see characteristics in that eagle that resonate within
themselves in their service to the United States, and it's
a powerful, powerful thing to witness. Flying for football games
is great, and it allows us to educate on a
mass scale, but seeing that interaction between a veteran or
(32:19):
an active service member with a bald eagle is probably
the most powerful, beautiful thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1 (32:27):
What's next for the American Eagle Foundation and what are
things people can get involved with to help the American
Eagle Foundation?
Speaker 2 (32:36):
Oh Man, this a wonderful question. So definitely, our rehabilitation
hospital is next on the agenda. We want to open
that rehab hospital hopefully by the talent of twenty twenty six,
which is also America two fifty. We think that would
be a great time to really be able to announce
that those threats that still face bald eagles today were
(32:57):
prepared and ready to support those animals. I think also
we've recently seen a resurgence in patriotism. For a while,
we were kind of forgotten as American Eagle Foundation, and
people are starting to hear our name again and recognize
the work that we do, and we just hope that
(33:18):
folks will continue to want to support the American Egle
Foundation through donations, going to our website and learning more
at our new facility, we actually host field trips for
all of our kids in the area, and we can
also provide those same field trips digitally for schools that
aren't near us, and we can bring a bird into
(33:39):
our digital classroom and interact with students across the United
States of America. We really want to educate that next generation.
As you and I have been talking gen X. So
I grew up recognizing the bald eagles and endangered species,
and now it's off the list, and there's so many
other animals that are on the list that the baldigle's
(34:02):
kind of been forgotten. And even my children didn't have
the kind of reverence and awe for the baldigle that
I did. And so we really want to educate and
cultivate a passion for our nation symbol in the next generation.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
That's really great. Well, look, I'm going to thank you
for joining me and for sharing the story of the
American Eagle Foundation. Our listeners can find out more by
visiting your website at Eagles dot org, and I encourage
them to do so.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
Thank you so much. It was an honor and a
pleasure speaking with you today.
Speaker 1 (34:38):
Thank you to my guest Jessica Hall. You can learn
more about the American Eagle Foundation on our show page
at newtsworld dot com. News World is produced by Genglish
three sixty and iHeartMedia. Our executive producer is Guarnsey Slum.
Our researcher is Rachel Peterson. The artwork for the show
was created by Steve Penley. Special thanks to the team
(34:59):
at English three sixty. If you've been enjoying nuts World,
I hope you'll go to Apple Podcasts and both rate
us with five stars and give us a review so
others can learn what it's all about. Right now, listeners
of newts World concerned up for my three free weekly
columns at Gingwishtree sixty dot com slash newsletter. I'm new Gingwich.
This is neut World
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