After five months of intensive veterinary care, the bald eagle that made national news when it suffered a bullet wound on December 15, 2010, in Beaver, Wash., is finally beginning the rehabilitation program that will prepare it to return to the wild. Released today from Sequim’s Greywolf Veterinary Hospital, which completed the treatment of the bullet wound and fractured ulna bone in its left wing, the juvenile male bald eagle will return to the Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center, the Sequim-based wildlife rehabilitation and rescue non-profit.

“For the first time since we originally rescued the eagle, we feel comfortable saying that he has a very good chance to return to the wild,” said Matthew Randazzo, the center’s public relations director. “It might take many months of rehabilitation, but we’re very optimistic he’ll eventually fly free.”

“We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without Greywolf Veterinary Hospital in Sequim,” said Jaye Moore, the center’s director. “We can’t thank Greywolf’s Dr. Mike Tyler, Dr. Jennifer Tavares, Dr. Maya Bewig, and Angela Burns enough for their wonderful work on this eagle and countless other wild animals. They did an incredible job.”

“We’ve been working with Jaye on healing injured and sick wildlife here on the Olympic Peninsula for twenty-odd years, and this is a nice, happy success story,” said Dr. Mike Tyler, the medical director of Greywolf Veterinary Hospital. “The key to making something like this work is having a rehabber like Jaye Moore who can work with an entire team of veterinary hospital staff to make sure this bird is happy, healthy, and releasable.”

“We’ve done multiple surgeries to remove bone fragments from the fracture site and daily wound care,” said Dr. Maya Bewig of Greywolf. “And we’ve taken out the dead tissue everyday and rebandaged (the wound).” Dr. Bewig also credited medicinal honey products donated by Anthony Moloney of Melcare Biomedical for the part they played in the eagle’s recovery.

Daily updates and videos on the eagle’s condition can be found at www.Facebook.com/northwestraptorcenter. The shooter of the bald eagle is still at large, and the Raptor Center is accepting tips/leads regarding the shooting via e-mail at Matthew@NWRaptorCenter.com