A Greenwood, Missouri man's attempt to save a baby eagle could be a game changer for protecting wildlife.
A few nights ago, a storm destroyed an eagle's nest out in Greenwood, Missouri. One of the eaglets did not survive but the other did. That's when Monkey Island Rescue swooped in to build a new nest for the mother eagle and her baby.
Wildlife rescue groups told 41 Action News us they've never seen anything like it, but through some luring techniques, they got the mother to use the man-made nest to care for the eaglet.
"She stopped up there, had a bird in her claw," said Dana Savorelli with Monkey Island Rescue. "She knew something from the day before. She went out there and got that little guy a meal and Jimmy John-ed it right up to her."
PHOTOS: See how the crew reunited baby and mama
If all goes well, the federal government may use this case as a research project.
And you can actually watch every move the pair make. The folks at Monkey Island installed three nest cams.
41 Action News: What did you think would happen once you built the nest?
Dana Savorelli, Monkey Island Rescue: I thought she would be back but I did not know a lot of things, whether we would be allowed to even be involved in something like this in the first place. Coming back - I don't think that was a problem. I thought they'd come at least for a bit. But they say for at least 48 hours they are probably gone and not going to come back.
41: How did you lure her back to the manmade nest?
DS: What I did is once we got everything built up there and got her up there, twe got a recording device off of our iPhone of baby eagles chirping for food. We played that loud. Then I saw her near the nest Monday - where the nest was, one of her favorite trees to hang out in.
She was still looking for babies. So what I did is turn that on, parked my car, turned off the car and just had the chirping of the birds - the sound of baby eagles wanting to eat.
She kept hearing that and hearing that and launched off of her area and started flying and looking over the trees for these babies.
So then I drove over to the new nest, parked the car and repeated the same process. Then she flew over here closer looking to find where this baby sound was coming from.
41: What happened then?
DS: She stopped up there, had a bird in her claw. She knew something from the day before. She went out there and got that little guy a meal and Jimmy John-ed it right up to her.
41: This sounds like a lot of work. Was it worth it?
DS: More than worth it. I would do it any day. I work with animals, I always have and the eagle deserves that.
Experts say the mom and baby should use the nest for the next two to three weeks. You can watch the live cam of the eaglet and mom here.
