Officer James Turek with the Harford County Sheriff's Office Animal Control Unit had never seen one up close, but after receiving a call in Edgewood yesterday, he would soon be holding an adult bald eagle in his hands.
"Seeing just the bald eagle, such a majestic bird like that, it really is phenomenal. You can see them at the zoo through a cage but until you’re up close to it, it's a completely different ball game," Turek said.
Turek found this particular eagle under a pick-up truck in an Edgewood office park.
All he could tell is that the left wing was injured in some way.
First he put the bird in his carrier, then dropped it off at the Phoenix Wildlife Center in Baltimore County where it will rehabilitate.
Fishing lines and lead poisoning usually do the damage to these animals but they have yet to determine what happened to this bird.
The wildlife center says they've already received eight bald eagles so far this year, this is the second one recovered in Harford County.
Saving any animal is rewarding Turek says, but saving an eagle is a little different.
"It feels nice to obviously save something that represents the United States. Especially pulling it out from under a Chevy pick-up truck, that's pretty American right there."
Saving a symbol of American pride and strength, in a country that could use a little dose of both this week.
