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Eagle Soars Again After Help From Human Friends

News Channel 8 photo by MARK DOUGLAS

Dianna Flynt of Audubon Bird of Prey Center of DeLand holds a bald eagle before it is released.

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By MARK DOUGLAS

News Channel 8

Published: November 28, 2008

A pair of white stone eagles guard the front entrance to the East Lake Road home of Sandy and Christine Hoffman. More stone eagles adorn the inside of their home.

Today, another eagle — this one real — took flight from their backyard after two months of rest and rehabilitation at the Audubon Center For Birds of Prey in DeLand.

"It was just a beautiful thing to see and to experience," Christine Hoffman said. "I'm hooked."

The young female bald eagle began its odyssey Oct. 2 when someone discovered the injured bird of prey at the nearby Brooker Creek Preserve.

Volunteers from the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary recovered the eagle and handed it over to Audubon center for further treatment.

Specialists initially were treating an injury involving scar tissue in the eagle's shoulder, possibly from a fight, but then an infection set in.

"It was very touch and go for awhile because of the fungal infection, but she pulled through that," said Dianna Flynt of the Audubon center.

Before long, the recovering eagle was flying on its own and defying predictions that it would have to live out its days in a zoo environment.

Today, Audubon volunteer Barbara Walker, who runs the eagle watch program in Pinellas, set the bird free in the Hoffman's backyard with about 20 onlookers cheering her on.

The 9-pound eagle flew toward a nearby tree and seemed to miss its first attempt to find a perch. It then flew northward to a nearby plant nursery and vanished behind the trees.

"I called Landmark Nursery, and they said she landed and went a little bit north and then west onto Brooker Creek," Hoffman said. "She's safe. She's home."

Reporter Mark Douglas can be reached at 727-536-9603 or Mdouglas@wfla.com.

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