Eagle's beak, life take new shapes

Published on March 4th, 2010

By CINTHIA RITCHIE

When rescuers found Cyrano the bald eagle, he was on the ground, thin and covered in lice. (Courtesy Photo, Bird Treatment and Learning Center)

Cyrano never had to be sedated during the operation, which is unusual for such a lengthy amount of work. (Courtesy Photo, Bird Treatment and Learning Center)

After starting out with a model made of Bake & Bend clay, Cyrano is on beak No. 4 now. The fit is beautiful and the nostril holes line up perfectly. (Courtesy Photo, Bird Treatment and Learning Center)

Cyrano is sporting a spiffy new beak.

The mature bald eagle rescued from the Seward area in December recently received a nose job.

According to Cindy Palmatier, assistant director avian care at the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage, much of the eagle's upper beak had disintegrated by the time he showed up at the center two months ago.

The beak is believed to have been injured by fishing line, which caught and tightened over time. The upper central portion rotted away, causing the tip to bend backward.

When rescuers found him, he was on the ground, thin and covered in lice.

"He was making ends meet but he was not doing well," Palmatier said. "It was only a matter of time before he would have been unable to eat."

After Cyrano arrived at the center, the staff sprayed him down for lice and performed a medical evaluation. It soon became clear that he would need a prosthesis to both provide structural support and absorb the force of the beak when biting down.

Palmatier packed up the measurements and headed to the craft store.

"I saw the Bake & Bend clay and thought, wow," she said. "It's soft and pliable, firm but flexible-maybe it would work."

She spent the evening molding out a clay prosthesis.

"This isn't something I would usually do," she said wryly.

She fashioned a doable model, baked it up in the oven and took it to the center the next morning. Cyrano tolerated it, but the model was too bulky. There was also the problem of the color, which was a dull gray and "obnoxious looking." So Palmatier went back home and fashioned a lighter weight yellow clay model, to better blend with Cyrano's natural beak tones.

"That one, he seemed to like, " Palmatier said. "He wore it for a couple of weeks and really, it looked pretty good."

A crown of a beak

The prosthesis, attached with nontoxic poster putty, were estimated to last three weeks. Obviously, a more durable solution was needed.

Enter Kirk Johnson, an Anchorage dentist who, luck would find it, had a relative volunteering at the center.

"He arrived, took measurements and made molds, just like they would in a regular dental office," Palmatier said.

The molds were made of the same material used on dental crowns, and during the process, Cyrano lay quietly on the exam table for over an hour as Johnson covered his beak with molding material.

He never had to be sedated, which is unusual for such a lengthy amount of work.

Dave Dorsey, education coordinator at the center, believes that Cyrano knew they were helping him.

"He knows what we're doing is good, even though he can't understand the method, and that's why he wasn't being a putz," he said.

Alaska SeaLife stranding coordinator Tim Lebling agreed with this philosophy.

"At some point when you're dealing with animals, be it domestic or wild, you get the sense they understand what's going on, and they gain trust in you," he said.

Cyrano may have trusted the staff, but he hated Johnson's first prosthesis so much that he took it off. They put it back on and he took it off again. The third time, tired with this game, he hid the bothersome thing.

"We never did find it," Palmatier said with a laugh.

Outside, but never wild

Cyrano's beak will always require maintenance, due to overgrowth that requires continual trimming. He will never be released back in the wild. Instead, he'll become what Palmatier refers to as an avian ambassador, a reminder of what happens when humans become irresponsible with fishing lines and other outdoor gear.

But he's doing well, she said. He's on beak No. 4 now. The fit is beautiful and the nostril holes line up perfectly.

"He appears comfortable," she said, waving her arm toward Cyrano, who stood in middle of his cage, his newly designed beak held at a haughty angle. "And he wears it well."