Firefighter training exercise turns into water rescue – for a bald eagle, video shows
A group of Tennessee firefighters were out training when they spotted something in the water.
It was big and brown, and as the crew got closer, it started to move.
It was a juvenile bald eagle.
The Chattanooga firefighters reached out to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to ask what to do, according to an April 13 tweet from the Chattanooga Fire Department.
They “were told not to intervene unless it started to struggle,” the fire department said.
But they were firefighters and had to do something.
Keeping a safe distance from the young bird, the firefighters used their boat to steer the eagle towards shore. In the video, the crew can be heard discussing whether the bird had a fish, or if it was simply too young to fly.
The eagle’s parents, firefighters assumed, were flying overhead. The birds were “very talkative and kept circling above the boat,” as their baby swam to shore, firefighters said.
Eventually, the bird made it to safety, and the firefighters snapped photos as the young bird started to dry out.
McClatchy News has reached out to the fire department for more information on where the rescue took place.
This story was originally published April 13, 2023 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Firefighter training exercise turns into water rescue – for a bald eagle, video shows."
