Injured Eagle Gets New 3D Beak

[RockabyeBillie]

Sometime in 2005, Beauty the bald eagle was shot in the face by a poacher, which damaged her beak badly enough that she couldn’t eat on her own. Animal rescue workers found her before she starved to death, and volunteers at the nonprofit group Birds of Prey Northwest nursed her back to health via tube-feeding and, later, hand-feeding with forceps. But it became increasingly clear that her beak was never going to grow back — meaning that Beauty would never be able to feed herself. She was on track to be euthanized.

But raptor specialist Jane Fink Cantwell, who dresses like Indiana Jones, refused to take “dead bald eagle” for an answer. She joined forces with mechanical engineer Nate Calvin of Kinetic Engineering Group, and together with other scientists, engineers, and even a dentist, they designed a nylon polymer beak that would perfectly replace Beauty’s lost upper mandible.

Source

[Bling]

That's a lovely story. It's great when we can help our animal friends, especially after some sod has hurt it.

[Imaginarynumber1]

The sad part is that with an injury like that, even with a prosthetic, that eagle will never be able to return to the wild. I'm sure she'll live in comfort as an education animal, though.

[Simbi Laveau]

She's beautiful

[SuddenPsychic]

I loved this story!

[Hasina]

Now, give her a laser attachment and the address of the poacher that shot her...