{"id":13789,"date":"2026-01-27T00:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T07:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-wildlife-officials-search-for-person-who-shot-bald-eagle-with-ball-bearing\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T21:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:41:12","slug":"colorado-wildlife-officials-search-for-person-who-shot-bald-eagle-with-ball-bearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-wildlife-officials-search-for-person-who-shot-bald-eagle-with-ball-bearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado wildlife officials search for person who shot bald eagle with ball bearing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A worker at a wildlife rehab center works with a bald eagle that was found Jan. 12 on the ice at Croke Reservoir in Northglenn. The bird had been shot, which required surgery to remove a ball bearing from its wing. Now Colorado Parks and Wildlife is looking for the person responsible for shooting the eagle, which is a state and federal protected species. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

First thing you should know, right after seeing that jarring photo, is that the eagle in question is expected to recover and fly again.<\/p>\n

Next thing you should know, if you\u2019ve seen anyone wandering near eagle perches with a slingshot and steel ball bearings, you should call Colorado Parks and Wildlife.<\/p>\n

\"X-ray
X-ray showing ball bearing lodged in the wing of a bald eagle found on the ice at Croke Reservoir in Northglenn on Jan. 12. The projectile was surgically removed. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The injured bald eagle was found Jan. 12 on the shoreline of Croke Reservoir, by CPW officers, Northglenn park rangers and Northglenn Animal Control. A local wildlife rehabilitation center removed the ball bearing and is gently bringing the majestic creature back to normalcy. State wildlife spokesperson Kara van Hoose said Monday they believe the raptor will eventually be able to fly.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, CPW reminds Coloradans that injuring a bald eagle is illegal under both federal and state laws, the tips can be reported anonymously to Operation Game Thief at (877) 265-6648 or game.thief@state.co.us<\/a>. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service tip line is (844) 397-8477 or fws_tips@fws.gov<\/a>. Federal law says the \u201ctaking\u201d of a bald eagle, which can mean capture or shooting or injuring or any number of offenses, can result in \u201ca fine of $100,000 ($200,000 for organizations), imprisonment for one year, or both, for a first offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too early to tell about the eagle\u2019s next flights, CPW said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEagles need to be mobile to live in the wild,\u201d an agency spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"A
A worker at a wildlife rehab center works with the eagle after its surgery to remove a ball bearing from its wing. Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials say they think the bird will be able to fly again. (Courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife, via The Colorado Sun)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

found Jan. 12 along the shoreline of Croke Reservoir in Northglenn<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1031,233,168,28,994,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-13789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado-parks-and-wildlife","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-crime","tag-headlines","tag-trueanthem","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13789"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19161,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13789\/revisions\/19161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13789"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=13789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}