This young female bald eagle was starving when the gentleman on the right first encountered it. In fact it tried to steal food from his bird of prey (he organizes trips in the Yukon and Whistler he said). A friend suggested that he capture it. He jumped on it and he held the bird under his arm and gave it food. He said the eagle was so hungry that it didn't care that it had been captured.

The eagle was captured in the Yukon and brought to Whistler where it was nursed back to health. The gentleman stated that a lot of people assisted in the recovery of the eagle. Although not necessary bad, the gentleman stressed that the headset on the eagle was only used for transporting the bird - once from the Yukon to Whistler and again from Whistler to Squamish.

There were a lot of people present for the releasing of the eagle back into the wild. Many young children came with their school class - there was a lot of excitement. The gentleman introduced himself and told everyone a bit about the bird before it was to be released. He brought along a few of the unhealthy back feathers that came from the eagle and showed everyone at what point it had lacked sufficient food in its youth. Apparently the first 6 weeks are a crucial period for an eagle and in that time they require sufficient food from the mother. A white line/break in the feather indicates that the eagle was not so fortunate. The eagle's tail was also 2 inches shorter than normal (stunted growth I suppose). They can still fly and turn but cannot maneuver sufficiently to hunt properly. The gentleman pointed out the new back feathers on the eagle. After he was finished with his talk, some first nations people sang a prayer for the eagle. The eagle was then released. It flew to the other side of the river and sat on a log with its wings spread out. After 15 minutes it flew into the river and proceeded to bath.