Eagles and Harleys and Claws... Oh My

Me Knows Better Than to Say This… but I will. On a spur of the moment type of thing, Jimmy decided to venture down to see a raptor release this morning. Back in August a bald eagle was spotted next to a road in Northern Minnesota by a gentleman riding his motorcycle. The eagle never moved and upon returning he noticed the eagle was injured.

As Brian tells the story, he decided he had to help. So he wrapped up the bird with his leather jacket and strapped him down to the back of the bike with a bungee cord. When asked if the leather jacket he was wearing today was the one he used, he responded, “No, it got pretty tore up by the bird, but when Harley-Davidson heard about this, they sent me this brand new one to wear.”

Although the Raptor Center doesn’t normally name the wild birds they are trying to return to nature, the media nicknamed the bird Harley.

Brian continued talking about his adventure trying to corral the bird and he mentioned that he still has a scar on his left thumb where the eagle took a bite. He added, “All I can say is that bite really, really hurt… a lot, but not as much as when he grabbed my right arm with his talons.”

By the way, the Raptor Center stepped right in and reminded everyone at that point to contact the DNR to pick up injured animals.

No shit. Who knew that trying to wrap up an injured bird of prey with a stinking leather jacket and then trying to bungee cord his ass to a motorcycle wouldn’t be dangerous…