'Injured' Bald Eagle Was 'Too Fat to Fly'

A bald eagle that Missouri Department of Conservation officials thought was injured just needed more time to digest a big meal. In a Facebook post, Wilson's Creek National Battlefield said the bird captured along the boundary of the park was found to be healthy, but full of raccoon, USA Today reports. The park, site of the first major Civil War battle west of the Mississippi, released X-rays from the Dickerson Park Zoo showing a raccoon's leg and paw inside the eagle's distended stomach.

The park said the eagle "was found to be healthy," but "engorged" with what they suspect was roadkill. "In other words, too fat to fly." In comments on the park's post, residents of nearby Springfield said the bird had been spotted in yards and "was having a hard time getting off the ground," the Guardian reports. "The eagle has been rehabilitated and released back into the park," said the park, a unit of the National Park Service. KSDK reports that according to the American Eagle Foundation, a bald eagle's diet is mostly fish, but they "will feed on what is most available, and requiring the least amount of energy to acquire it." (More strange stuff stories.)