So in that gross .pdf guide that Dr. Scott Ford wrote about eagle mating, he mentioned having been a "surrogate mate" to an imprinted male bald eagle that he worked with for several years. I found an old YouTube channel of his that documents the bald eagle, Buddy, that he likely abused over those years.
avianfactoids, Scott's old YouTube channel (archive)
A description he posted on two videos, "Flying Buddy the Eagle on a Crenance" (archive) and "Running Buddy" (archive), goes into detail about his history with Buddy.
Buddy's Story: Anybody that knows me (Scott Ford) well knows that I worked with a bald eagle for about 6 years in the early 1990s. His name was Buddy and he greeted visitors up close and personal at the Alaska Raptor Center. He also traveled to the lower-48 several times to teach kids about eagles and raise awareness about the environment. His only injury was that he was a human-imprint. This means that he was raised by people at a critical behaviorally-formative period in his life (about around 10-21 days of age). The result for a raptor is that they identify socially and sexually with humans for the rest of their life. When I started working with Buddy he was only 6 months old and was unafraid of people. We did have to train him to accept jesses and desensitize him to weird situations (e.g., cars, elevators, narrow hallways, lines on the road, lol...). I was totally blessed to have a close relationship with him through those years and still miss him tangibly to this day. He died before his time at the age of 6 (can potentially live 33 or more years in the wild, up to 50 in captivity).
There is also a video (archive) from a local television show that contains more footage of Scott with Buddy.
This book mentions that Buddy died of a "sudden illness" in 1995. One can only imagine the possible abuse scenarios that Buddy may have gone through while being under the care of a zoophile.
avianfactoids, Scott's old YouTube channel (archive)
A description he posted on two videos, "Flying Buddy the Eagle on a Crenance" (archive) and "Running Buddy" (archive), goes into detail about his history with Buddy.
Buddy's Story: Anybody that knows me (Scott Ford) well knows that I worked with a bald eagle for about 6 years in the early 1990s. His name was Buddy and he greeted visitors up close and personal at the Alaska Raptor Center. He also traveled to the lower-48 several times to teach kids about eagles and raise awareness about the environment. His only injury was that he was a human-imprint. This means that he was raised by people at a critical behaviorally-formative period in his life (about around 10-21 days of age). The result for a raptor is that they identify socially and sexually with humans for the rest of their life. When I started working with Buddy he was only 6 months old and was unafraid of people. We did have to train him to accept jesses and desensitize him to weird situations (e.g., cars, elevators, narrow hallways, lines on the road, lol...). I was totally blessed to have a close relationship with him through those years and still miss him tangibly to this day. He died before his time at the age of 6 (can potentially live 33 or more years in the wild, up to 50 in captivity).
There is also a video (archive) from a local television show that contains more footage of Scott with Buddy.
This book mentions that Buddy died of a "sudden illness" in 1995. One can only imagine the possible abuse scenarios that Buddy may have gone through while being under the care of a zoophile.
