Amtrak Train Strikes Bald Eagle (Eagle Survives)

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It started out as a standard day at the Fredericksburg Police Department, with reports of various criminal activity, both large and small.

But about 4:30 p.m., the department received a call about a fowl incident.

A northbound Amtrak train had struck a bald eagle, and though the bird apparently had survived, it remained pinned to the front of the locomotive.

And so a group of officers headed down to the depot to meet the train and try to figure out if they could save the eagle, according to Fredericksburg police spokesman Jim Shelhorse.

"They actually were able to take the eagle off the train and transport it to headquarters," he said yesterday.

Officers then contacted the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to figure out what to do with this new charge.

Although bald eagles no longer are on the Endangered Species List, they remain under federal protection.

Game and Inland Fisheries officials told Fredericksburg police they should turn the bird over to a federally approved eagle rehabilitation specialist.

And so Valerie Ackerman soon got a call about the injured bird.

As she headed to Fredericksburg, she issued a stream of instructions to the attending officers.

"She was in constant contact with them, offering advice and talking them through it," Shelhorse said.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2005/112005/11252005/148374

Film at eleven.