Bald Eagle Found On Downtown Street Taken To Tulsa Zoo

The Tulsa Zoo is caring for a young bald eagle found on a sidewalk in downtown Tulsa Thursday night.

Police say they started getting calls about the eagle around 10 p.m. near Guthrie Green on Martin Luther King Boulevard.

Initially, police thought the eagle had been hit by a car and may have had a broken wing. Police contacted Dr. Kay Backues, the Tulsa Zoo's Director of Animal Health who took the eagle to the zoo's veterinary hospital.

Zoo staff did a full exam, including x-rays, blood work and lead testing. The zoo says the eagle had no fractures, but appeared to be in thin body condition.

The zoo says the results of its preliminary examination are consistent with eyewitness accounts that the bird flew into a structure and possibly became stunned. On Friday afternoon the bird was alert, moving around and using both of its wings.

The zoo says further test results will help determine the likelihood that the bird can return to the wild, which is the zoo's ultimate goal.

Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Duncan volunteered to take a sample of the eagle’s blood to the Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Laboratory in Stillwater for testing.

The bird’s gender has not been determined, but it is estimated to be one to two years of age.

The zoo says bald eagles don't get their famous white head and tail feathers until they're about five years old.