AUSTRALIA: Wedge-tailed eagle takes dip in Sydney harbour during flight lesson gone wrong

It was meant to be a pleasant day out for zookeepers in Sydney as they geared up to train the Zoo's new wedge-tailed eagle for a bird flight show. The aim was to train the eagle to fly by teaching it to take off from one trainer's arms fly to another. The day got off to a good start until the eagle, named 'Gabby' ran into trouble after taking off. Whilst in flight, Gabby hit some high winds and accidentally drifted towards the harbour. Not having much experience with water, the eagle tried to land on it - and of course started to sink. Realising Gabby could be in great danger the zoo staff raced towards the harbour to save her. One zoo staff member jumped straight in and managed to hold the bird's head above water so it didn't drown. A very cold and wet Gabby was then safely return to her cage. The zoo keeper who jumped in to save Gabby, Jose Altuna, says he was very concerned about the bird and didn't think twice about jumping in to save her. "I guess getting her head underwater and then she'd swallow a whole lot of water relatively quickly so I guess the main thing is getting her out as quick as possible and keeping her head above water," he said. "Everyone here is a great team to work with and really care about the animals so there's no way they were about to just sit back and watch so it's worked out well", said zookeeper Matthew Kettle. Gabby is a tawny-brown eagle and weighs over four kilograms. The wedge-tailed eagle is Australia's largest bird of prey and one of the largest eagle species in the world.

ITN Source | August 12, 2006

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