SEATTLE — Two bald eagles found entangled in morning glory and blackberry vines in a woman's backyard in West Seattle have been rescued.
Kersti Muul is a conservation scientist who serves on the conservation committee for the Seattle Audubon Society. She said she got a call Tuesday from a woman who believed there was only one eagle trapped in her backyard. The eagle had morning glory wrapped around its wings.
But when Muul arrived, she discovered there were actually two eagles that had gotten entangled in the vines and their talons were also locked together. One was on top of the other, partially hiding it from view. Muul said the eagles had been trapped for at least four hours.
Muul called Seattle Animal Control to help her free the eagles.
The protocol with tussling or courting eagles that are talon locked is to leave them alone and they will usually release themselves, according to Muul. However, she said these two never would have made it out without help.
Muul said eagles are insanely strong and stubborn and she tried to get them to unlock from each other but with no luck. Muul started doing some heavy pruning on the vines until, eventually, one of the eagles released one leg and then flew off.
The second eagle quickly followed. Both eagles seemed to fly off normally and are expected to be okay.
