Eagle found trapped upside down in Campbell River completes recovery at rehabilitation facility

An adult bald eagle has been released back into the wild 11 days after it was found stranded upside down high up in a tree in Campbell River, B.C.

The eagle had been spotted hanging upside down in a tree near 2nd Avenue and Thulin Street.

Audrey Wagner was one of several people who contacted Mountainaire Avian Rescue and the city about the troubled bird.

"It was a whole neighbourhood thing, we wanted her out of that tree," Wagner told CTV News on Tuesday.

The eagle had been calling for its mate which is what drew the public's attention to its predicament.

"Just screeching and then the crows attacked it and then the male came and sat above her," Wagner said.

Alex Scott was one of two arborists working for the City of Campbell River at the time. He was tasked with making the climb to help the eagle down.

"I used a net to unhook the eagle from the branch, covered its head with the net and got it into rope bag," said Scott.

The arborist says the eagle appears to have landed on a branch when one of its toes got trapped between two branches, likely leading the bird to lose its balance. It was hanging from the tree by that toe.

"Oh yeah, it was definitely upset," said Scott. "Near as we could figure it had been hanging upside down for at least three hours at that point."

Joanne Stiles, a volunteer caregiver with Mountainaire Avian Rescue, says the eagle made a good recovery while in the group's care.

"She was in excellent shape except for the injured foot from being hung upside down in the tree," said Stiles.

She says it is not unusual that the disadvantaged eagle was attacked by crows.

"They just, they hate each other. Crows see eagles as a danger and eagles see crows as an annoyance," Stiles said.

Wagner says she was impressed when watching the rescue efforts.

"I’d never seen anything Ike that and I was impressed how he took her down out of that tree without hurting her, and she was calmed right down," said Wagner.

Tuesday's release also saw a touching tribute to the founder of Mountainaire Avian Rescue, Maj Birch, who died from cancer in 2015.

"In honour of the fact that she rescued an awful lot of raptors in this neighbourhood, we decided that we would bring her out to raptor rescues and distribute some of her ashes wherever we had let a raptor go that we’d had in our care," said Stiles.