Bald eagle returns to SC’s Riverbanks Zoo exhibit

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina’s Riverbanks Zoo is getting a rescued female bald eagle that will live in a new exhibit space.

Bird curator Martin Vance says the eagle is thought to be about one year old. She was found in December in a ditch and had a shoulder injury that prevented her from hunting. Veterinarians at Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research in Delaware nursed her back to health and Riverbanks offered her a home.

The zoo in Columbia had two bald eagles but sent them to other zoos in 1998. Vance says visitors said they missed seeing the nation’s emblem.

It’s thought that 10,000 pairs of bald eagles live in United States and 250 of them are in South Carolina.