Turtle Back Zoo joined in the Eagles Super Bowl hoopla.
First, Lady Edwina, the resident groundhog, predicted Philadelphia would win by munching on a snack near their logo before the game. Then, the zoo launched a campaign to promote another resident, Freedom, the bald eagle.
Now that the confetti has fallen in Philadelphia, Turtle Back wants you to know you can still see Freedom.
“I’m sure we’ve had some fans on site who have come to see him,” Courtney Torregrosa, a zoo official told NJ Advance Media.
Freedom was an attraction at the zoo long before the Eagles landed in the Super Bowl.
He arrived four years ago after a harrowing rescue in Minnesota. He was discovered hanging upside down in a tree entangled in a rope.
“He was saved by Army veteran Jason Galvin who noticed him while driving by,” a statement from the zoo said. “Galvin called local police and fire departments and the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to rescue the eagle, but none were able to help because of how high up in the tree the bird was caught.
“With permission, Galvin, a former Army sharpshooter, used a .22 caliber rifle to shoot through the branches and ropes. It took 150 shots fired over 90 minutes to free the bird. Freedom survived the 75-foot fall from the tree.”
Turtle Back Zoo was selected to be his new home after the zoo built a $1.2 million exhibit space where Freedom still has room to fly. One of his talons was permanently damaged and he is now not expected to be released into the wild again.
“He’ll stay with us, because the way his foot was injured, he may not be able to catch his food,” Torregrosa said about Freedom, believed to be about 8 years of age. “Zoos across the country work with rehab centers so that if an eagle like this is injured and we have space for them then we can supply what they need for the rest of their lives.”
New Jersey removed the bald eagle and osprey from the state’s list of endangered species earlier this year.
In the 1970s and into the early 1980s, New Jersey had just one remaining bald eagle nest, a pair in a remote part of Cumberland County. The population had been devastated by widespread use of DDT, used to control mosquitoes, which contaminated food sources for wildlife. The federal government banned DDT in 1972. Now, bald eagles can be found in virtually every area of the state, with their highest numbers found along Delaware Bay.
The zoo is open daily from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. It is located at 560 Northfield Ave. in West Orange.
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