(Brig Cabe/Examiner)
Enna Lugo, right, Fairfax County police department animal control division animal control officer, who retrieved this eagle in distress in Kingstowne, helps Edward Clark Jr., left, President of The Wildlife Center of Virginia, as they ready the female eagle for release in Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, Mason Neck, Va.

William C. Flook, The Examiner
2006-10-26 09:00:00.0
Current rank: Not ranked

It was just like former Attorney General John Ashcroft sang it: “Let the eagle soar, like she’s never soared before.”

A rehabilitated bald eagle was set loose at Mason Neck State Park on Wednesday afternoon, a month after it was found sick and unable to fly in Fairfax County.

“The bird took off like she was shot out of a rocket; it was beautiful,” said Ed Clark, president of the Wildlife Center of Virginia, which treated the eagle.

The bird was taken to the center in late September after a citizen found it near the 6500 block of Parish Glebe Lane in Kingstowne. Animal hospital staff found she was suffering from a fungal respiratory infection that caused fluid to build up around her heart, Clark said. After thousands of dollars worth of treatment, the eagle recovered.

Unlike the ill-fated Martha, the injured bald eagle that was euthanized in Delaware earlier this month after a midair scrap with another eagle, the bird released Wednesday was not given a name, only a number: 2,111. It was the 2,111th patient at the center this year when it arrived.