GrrlScientist’s Sept. 8, 2012 posting on the Guardian science blogs highlights a story about a bald eagle in Alaska’s encounter with a poacher, subsequent loss of most of its beak, and a prosthetic beak devel0ped through the efforts of the Birds of Prey Northwest not-for-profit organization located in the US state of Idaho.

From the posting,

One morning in 2005, an adult female bald eagle was spotted whilst scrounging for food at a landfill in Alaska. Emaciated, she was starving to death in the midst of a bounty of food. A poacher had shot her in the face, shattering the upper mandible of her beak, leaving her with a useless stump. The damage left Beauty with just a small portion of her left upper beak and destroyed almost all of the right side. Trying to eat using this mangled beak was like “eating with one chopstick” according to raptor specialist Jane Fink Cantwell [founder and executive director of the Birds of Prey Northwest].

…

The unanimous expert opinion was the bird [which had been relocated to Idaho] should be euthanized. However, Ms Cantwell refused to give up. She continued to seek the help and advice of scientists and other professionals by sharing Beauty’s story.

One afternoon, as Ms Cantwell spoke of Beauty’s situation during an educational presentation she was giving, they got lucky. Mechanical engineer Nate Calvin and his two daughters were in the audience, eager to learn more about birds of prey. After hearing Beauty’s story, Mr Calvin was inspired and determined to help. He approached Ms Cantwell after her presentation had ended.

“I think I can help you with Beauty if you are interested….” he said.

This video offers more of the background story and tells the tale of what happened next,

I’m not sure when this footage was recorded but presumably before Beauty’s beak grew a bit more,

I [GrrlScientist] emailed Birds of Prey Northwest for an update on Beauty and received this reply yesterday [Sept. 7, 2012] from Ms Fink (Cantwell):

Beauty continues to thrive under our care without her upper beak. The new growth pushed out the hardware which anchored the prosthetic beak. Recently the small amount of new growth has allowed Beauty to do something she has not been able to do since her injury-eat independently. We have constructed a special feeding platform for her and she now feeds herself!

We are looking to the future as we measure her minute growth and construct a new plan of attachment. Construction of the beak is the easy part, it is the attachment that is the challenge.

There’s a lot more in Grrl Scientist’s Sept. 8, 2012 post about this remarkable story.