Orthotics for Eagles

Rocky Mountain News - Just because golden eagles never wear heels doesn’t mean they don’t have foot problems. At the Rocky Mountain Raptor Program in Fort Collins, the situation became so serious for one very large, very important eagle that the next step was going to be killing the bird. “Their feet are their life,” said Gail Kratz, the program’s medical director. That’s especially true for birds that no longer can fly. The female golden eagle - they don’t name birds because they don’t want them regarded as pets - came into the center in 1991 after being hit by a truck, an injury that permanently crippled one wing.

For the female golden, being grounded for so long created unnatural foot stress and strain, leading to a series of bacterial infections known as “bumble foot.” Despite surgery, the problem had become chronic and painful. The female golden, a feisty beauty with a 7-foot wingspan who loves to climb up ramps to the highest roost in her cage, stopped vocalizing and seemed to lose her appetite. “Birds in general hide whatever is wrong with them. Show weakness in the wild, and you’re going to be somebody’s lunch,” Kratz said. “A bird has to really not be feeling well a lot for them to show anything.”

One of the program’s volunteers mentioned the eagle’s problem to her chiropractor, who thought that a bird version of orthotics might be the answer. Orthotics, custom-made devices worn inside shoes, relieve foot pain by redistributing pressure on the joints, something increasingly necessary in a concrete-covered world. The chiropractor called Alyson Syrja, an orthotics specialist with a Tennessee-based company called Sole Supports. “He said, ‘Could you create orthotics for an eagle?’ And I’m like, come again? What are you talking about?” said Syrja, a former chiropractor who has worked for Sole Supports in Colorado for nine years.

Syrja called Bill Bors, one of the company’s engineers and a bird lover himself, and he flew out from Tennessee so they could look at the eagle together. “We see the same kinds of overuse injuries in human beings,” Syrja said. “I was thinking we could apply that principle to birds who have been in captivity.” This required anesthetizing the eagle so Syrja could get past 10-inch talons to make foot molds. Made of dense foam and held in place by bandages, the orthotics fit the pad of the bird’s foot and redistribute the pressure. In the past six months, they have redesigned them with Kratz’s input.

While there’s no guarantee of a cure, Kratz has seen improvement in the female golden, a bird that hasn’t given up a bit of her wild nature, despite years in captivity. “Her attitude is wonderful,” she said. “She’s back to her normal, aggressive self, eating like a pig - she’s very active; she’s very vocal, like she used to be.” About 250 injured raptors - hawks, falcons, owls and eagles - are brought in for rehabilitation each year. And of those that survive, most can be treated and released back into the wild, Kratz said.

The injured birds often die, and others are killed. But among the permanently disabled, a few exceptional birds - the female golden among them - become “educational ambassadors,” the stars of presentations designed to raise awareness about the raptors’ role in the wild. Encouraged by success in treating the female golden, Kratz used one of the cast-off pairs of orthotics to heal a similar infection on an eagle about to be released into the wild. The problem cleared up in two weeks. Orthotics, it seems, are definitely for the birds.