Cataract surgery restores eagle’s sight

The bird was in bad shape when it was brought in.

ANCHORAGE DAILY NEWS

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — With the patient comfortably anesthetized and breathing well, Dr. James Gaarder of Anchorage cut into the cornea — the “outer, clear windshield of the eye.” The first surgery of its kind in Alaska was under way.

The patient, named Digit, is a rarity in the annals of eye surgery — an adult bald eagle.

As far as Gaarder knew, the surgery he performed Aug. 2 was the first time a cataract was removed from an eagle here; and he knows of only one other case like it anywhere, Gaarder said. An eagle cataract was removed at Ohio State University years ago.

Gaarder, an eye doctor for animals, needs to do one final examination to make sure the bird’s once-blind right eye has healed well and vision has returned before he is willing to rule it a complete success.

If all looks good, Digit — so named because of a missing talon — will be released into the wild, said Cindy Palmatier, rehabilitation director of the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage.

Was in bad condition

Bird TLC, as the center is called, will have ample cause to celebrate Digit’s release. When he was brought to the center March 1, he was ragged, in such poor condition Palmatier thought he was going to be one more eagle they would have to put down.

“He came in effectively blind in the right eye,” Palmatier said. In addition, a bone in his right wing was broken, all this plus the missing middle talon on its right foot.

The center brings in 600-800 birds a year. The animals have been sickened by a toxin, mauled by a pet, shot, hit by vehicles, maimed in flight or injured in some other way.

Roughly half of Bird TLC’s animals are rehabilitated and released.

The eagle release rate is roughly 40 percent, said Rachel Morse, the Bird TLC executive director.

Digit — likely a male — was found flightless at the Anchorage landfill. Digit is at least 5.