Eagle shot, wounded in Afghanistan, rescued by Navy SEALs will get new home in NY sanctuary

Eagle shot, rescued in Afghanistan to get NY home

PETERSBURG, N.Y. — An eagle wounded on a firing range in Afghanistan and rescued by Navy SEALs is getting a new home at a bird sanctuary in upstate New York.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer says federal officials agreed to let Mitch the Eagle into the U.S. despite a ban on importing birds from Afghanistan because of avian flu fears. Mitch will get to America in early October and undergo tests before being sent to the Berkshire Bird Paradise in Petersburg, about 20 miles east of Albany.

The steppe eagle was shot in a wing by an Afghan soldier at Camp Scorpion, a training base in the southern part of the country.

SEALs on patrol saw the shooting and tended to Mitch’s wounds.

Schumer said Wednesday the SEALs appealed for help from the sanctuary, which contacted him.