Teddy the Eagle came to the Alberta Birds of Prey Centre in Coaldale last summer. He was about four months old at the time and starving. After thinking he might not survive, staff managed to nurse Teddy back to health. Gillian Blade is one of the staff who helped train Teddy. “He was very, very thin and very weak. So, we had to help him eat himself. He was too weak to eat by himself. And since then, he’s fully recovered,” Blade said. Teddy recently began performing in the centre’s flight shows. After several shows attached to a safety line, staff felt he was ready to perform without the line. His first two shows went off without a hitch, but during the third disaster struck. “A big gust of wind came in. And because Teddy does happen to be on the smaller side for our eagles, he got swept away really easily,” Blade said. “He did try to come back. He kind of kept circling, but unfortunately instead of getting lower, he got higher. And when they get higher, it’s a lot harder for them to come down.” The centre says it immediately put out a call on Facebook asking residents to keep a look out for Teddy. For four days, responses flooded in with Teddy sightings across Coaldale. Then on July 31, the fifth day he was missing, there was a tip saying he was in north Lethbridge. The centre’s managing director, Colin Weir, went out and found Teddy on top of a semi truck. “As soon as Teddy saw Colin, instant recognition, he ran along the side of the semi truck. And then Colin put out his glove, and he jumped down and landed on his glove. And then he was immediately given some food,” Blade said. The news of Teddy’s retrieval was initially kept a secret from Blade. Staff surprised her with what she described as an emotional reunion. “I get up there and hiding around the corner was another staff member was holding Teddy and it was very overwhelming. There were some tears,” she said. “If he wasn’t a wild bird, probably would have tried to give him a hug. But he’s not like a cat or dog.” Teddy has already started performing in the flight shows once again. But staff are keeping him on the safety line until he builds his confidence back up.
