Late in the afternoon on Jan. 23, a facility engineer aboard NAVSUP FLC Norfolk's Craney Island Fuel Terminal in Portsmouth, Va. spotted a bald eagle in a road. He soon realized the eagle might be injured, and set in motion a chain of events that ultimately led to the eagle's rescue.

"As I was leaving Craney Island at the end of the work day, I saw an eagle in the middle of the road," said Lex Leland, a Fuels Department facility engineer." At first I thought it might be eating, but then I noticed it was just standing still. It started to fly, but it only got about four feet off the ground, and flew about 30 feet before landing in the roadway again. It did this a second time, but still did not fly far. After that, I got out of my vehicle and the eagle tried to take off again and landed adjacent to a pump house, but far enough from the road to be safely out of the way of traffic."

Leland then contacted Al Gregg, a physical scientist at Craney Island. Gregg then called the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Mid-Atlantic Natural Resources Office to report the location of the injured eagle.

The eagle was spotted again at 6:30 the next morning by an employee while he conducted a routine pipeline inspection. He noticed the injured bird along the side of the road and immediately notified Gregg and George Heider, also of Fuels Department. The eagle had apparently migrated approximately 100 yards north. NAVSUP FLC Norfolk personnel quickly contacted NAVFAC Mid-Atlantic Natural Resources Program Manager Emmett Carawan, who in turn directed two of his staff natural resources specialists - Blake Waller and Taylor Austin - to contact the Craney Island staff and offer assistance.

Gregg and Heider also directed all traffic to stay off the section of roadway until the situation was resolved and advised security personnel that Waller and Austin would be arriving soon.

When they arrived, Waller and Austin learned the bird had moved further north, deeper into pines and thick underbrush. They decided to have everyone wait to allow the eagle time to settle down rather than risk pushing it further into the woods and adjacent pond. "If we had advanced on the eagle then, it could have resulted in further injury or even death of the bird," said Waller.

An hour later, Waller, Austin, Gregg, Heider and Leland quietly searched the deeper part of the woods and located the injured eagle. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) was notified and two conservation officers arrived within an hour. After locating the bird again, DGIF called Dana Lusher, a local licensed wildlife rehabilitator trained to capture and care for eagles, to help with the capture. The crew crept back into the heavily vegetated area and quietly surrounded the eagle, where Lusher netted it and carried the female bird back out and placed it into a transport cage.

The eagle was turned over to Lusher, owner of Nature's Nanny Wildlife Rehabilitation, for care and medical attention.

According to Gregg, there aren't any trees aboard Craney Island sturdy enough to support an eagle's nest. "Single eagles have been spotted at the Craney Island Fuel Terminal on a regular basis," said Gregg. "No nesting pairs have been spotted, and no nests have been observed. The area around the fuel terminal appears to be a feeding area."

NAVSUP Fleet Logistics Center (FLC) Norfolk, one of eight fleet logistics centers under NAVSUP Global Logistics Support (GLS), provides operational logistics, business and support services to fleet, shore and industrial commands of the Navy, Coast Guard, Military Sealift Command, and other Joint and Allied Forces. Services include contracting, regional transportation, fuel, material management, household goods movement support, postal and consolidated mail, warehousing, global logistics and husbanding, hazardous material management, and integrated logistics support.

NAVSUP GLS provides global logistics for a global Navy. The organization is made up of more than 6,500 military and civilian logistics professionals operating from 105 locations worldwide providing an extensive array of integrated global logistics and contracting services to Navy, Marine Corps, joint operational units, and allied forces across all warfare enterprises.

A component of the Naval Supply Systems Command headquartered in Mechanicsburg, Pa., NAVSUP GLS is part of a worldwide logistics network of more than 22,500 military and civilian personnel providing combat capability through logistics.



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