Wild Things Get Rescued
By Carrie Thompson
When you find a wild raptor wounded, ill or otherwise incapacitated WHO you gonna call?
Mike Stalter!
Mike Stalter, a deputy in the Otsego County Sheriff’s Office, possesses a general falconry license. He is well known in the community as the first point of contact for handling raptors, which include owls, falcons, eagles and hawks. This is the second downed eagle that Mike has rescued, this one in response to a 911 call from a painting party gathered at Brookwood Point on Otsego Lake. The dispatch contacted Mike and thankfully he was available to respond to the injured female bald eagle.
He carefully approached with one hand extended, calmly speaking to her. While she was watching his one hand, he was able to reach around with the other and secure one talon, and very quickly the other. Mike states that handling any raptor is very dangerous and requires years of training and specialized skill. Aside from the obvious threat of the sharp talons, eagles can apply 650 lbs. of pressure slicing through skin and bones “like butter.” He wrapped the wings and legs in blue painter’s tape, secured her in a box and contacted the Environmental Conservation Police. She was delivered to Charles Koop, who owns and operates a local volunteer wildlife rehabilitation center affectionately known as the “Dr. Doolittle Farm” in Pittsfield.
