—Story, photos Courtesy of Michigan Tech News—
When she’s not keeping an eagle eye on Husky Nation, MTU Public Safety Patrol Sergeant Beth Maatta watches over birds of prey as the only certified raptor rehabilitator in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Young eagles oink.
“He’s still finding his voice,” said Beth Maatta, carrying the softly grunting, injured immature bald eagle from his outdoor enclosure into an outbuilding for weighing and feeding. Placing the bird down on folded toweling, claws firmly gripped in her heavily gloved hands, Maatta prepares to swaddle the raptor. But creating what she calls a birdie burrito is easier said than done. Before Maatta can get him tucked in, he’s unfurled his wings, fiercely beating them in the air hard enough to blow her hair back Beyoncé style.
Firmly grasping his talons, Maatta waits him out. The behavior is natural and expected. She prefers it to the many times eagles beyond saving have died unresisting in her arms.
The weigh-in is encouraging. The three-month-old eagle was 7.7 pounds when he arrived at the sanctuary a few days earlier and his appetite seemed lackluster. But the scale tells a different story. He’s up to 8.37 pounds.
Even as she’s feeding him fresh fish with tongs, he’s angling for her arm with his sharp, curled beak. “You have the worst table manners,” she tells him. Again, nothing personal. Neither caregiver nor raptor is here to make friends. Their shared mission is to get him back into the wild.
For Maatta, it’s part of a bigger mission to help mitigate the systemic and persistent lead poisoning of eagles and other birds of prey. “Lead is my soapbox,” she said. “All it takes is a piece of lead the size of a grain of rice to kill a bald eagle.”
That the eagle in her care showed exposure to lead at such a young age is somewhat surprising. Luckily, he did not yet require treatment for lead poisoning — a condition that affects the majority of mature eagles due to repeated exposure over their life spans. The primary source is ammunition. When eagles scavenge on hunter-killed animal carcasses, they ingest lead from bullets, slugs and shotgun pellets. Even when caregivers are able to clear visible pieces of ammo, miniscule fragments that remain quickly erode in the birds’ stomach acid and enter the eagles’ system.
Just as in humans, there is no safe level of lead exposure. Severe levels of lead intoxication cause blindness, convulsions and death. Birds exposed to less critical levels of lead poisoning may suffer inability to maintain balance, listlessness, overall weakness, decreased appetite, lack of muscle coordination and impaired vision. Their impaired reflexes and reactions can make it difficult to catch prey and avoid accidents.
This young bird was picked up for rehabilitation after someone reported a dead eagle on the side of the road in Ontonagon County. He had been hit by a car while feeding on deer roadkill; his injuries included a slight wing abrasion.
Firearm deer season in Michigan is Nov. 15-30. Maatta hopes people will spread the word that hunters who field-dress their kills can bury their gut piles to prevent birds of prey from getting to them. Hunters can also consider alternatives to lead ammunition and fishing tackle.
“I provided lead-free .30-06 to family members, hoping they might switch over,” said Maatta, who has partnered with Sporting Lead-Free to help get the word out.
Whether it’s advocating for lead-free ammo or the work she does as a police officer, the community education element runs strong in Maatta’s professional and volunteer work.
She enjoys teaching, whether it’s explaining why folks shouldn’t rush to “rescue” a fawn because its mother isn’t around or showing parents how to properly install car seats as a certified child passenger safety technician.
Ever since her internship with Hancock City Police in high school, Maatta knew she wanted to be a police officer. She worked as a 911 dispatcher in nearby Laurium, Michigan while beginning her training at Finlandia University, then attended Northern Michigan University’s Regional Police Academy.
Her 17-year career includes working with several Upper Peninsula departments, including five years in Marquette. Being a member of the Michigan Tech Department of Public Safety and Police Services is a great fit for someone who enjoys figuring out how to best help people who need it.
She’s a member of the Special Victims Unit (SVU) of the Michigan Tech Public Safety and Police Services, which works to assist and advocate for people who have experienced interpersonal violence, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, dating violence, stalking and child abuse. The team of three officers use a survivor-centered investigative process to better serve needs and reduce barriers to reporting. SVU works with other organizations and within the criminal justice system to ensure survivors are treated with compassion and respect.
Maatta didn’t come to raptor rescues until she moved back to the area from Marquette.
“I wasn’t a bird person when I started learning,” she said. “I had no medical or wildlife experience.” A friend and public safety dispatcher who rehabbed small mammals got her interested in the opportunity. The requirements — courses through the University of Minnesota Raptor Center, 100 hours of experience, finding a veterinarian willing to work with her, Michigan Department of Natural Resources facility inspection and other education — qualified Maatta for licensing through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Rehabilitators don’t handle controlled substances, but do need to know how to diagnose injuries and administer medications. “Our goal is always to return them to the wild,” says Maatta. “But you have to consider that raptors have to be 100% and fully flighted in order to survive. There are hard decisions that have to be made. I’ve had bald eagles take their last breath in my arms.”
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