The Adamawa State Government has revived an eagle which flew all the way from Finland, strayed into the net of a fisherman who took it, with health badly impaired, to the government.
“The bird was weak and frail when we received it, and we had to call in a veterinary doctor from livestock who gave us perspectives of how such birds are maintained. He took samples from it and carried out some laboratory tests. The medical issue has been taken care of,” the state commissioner of Health, Dr John Ngamsa, said in a press interview Tuesday.
Eagle has become a rare being that most Nigerians have never seen, and the Finish eagle which arrived Nigeria about a week ago has been attracting visitors to the Jimeta Children Amusement Park where it is being kept.
The bird flew in along a migratory route through Nigeria’s Northeast, and the Adamawa government got it because it came down to the Benue river bank in Jimeta to try to get fish to eat, but the fisherman’s hook caught it.
“The fisherman, recognizing the bird as a rare treasure, brought it to us, and it has become a source of much amusement as people have been trooping to the park to view it,” the commissioner said.
The Finnish eagle flew into Adamawa with a tag on its leg, through which ministry officials traced it to its Finland starting point and started exchanging communication with the owners of the bird who apparently released it earlier as an experimental bird.
The Tourism and Culture Commissioner said the search for the bird’s home country was also helped by a similar history, as the state government has experience of eagles travelling from Finland following a course across countries and over watercourses, including the River Benue, along the Jimeta bank of which the current eagle was taken.
“One came like that last year. It had an identity, a tag on the leg that gave us the idea of where it came from,” the commissioner said, adding that the one of last year died on arrival and his office which has been able to revive the current one, is negotiating with its owners on the possibility of keeping it.
“We’ve written to the Heisinki Art Museum in Finland and they have acknowledged. They asked for its picture and medical report, which we are building up. If they are on scientific research on the bird, we will collaborate with them. We are also looking at the possibility of keeping it for the purpose the museum is designed to achieve.”
His information officer, Aida Assama, who has kept information flow between the state government and the Helsinki museum over the Finnish eagle, similarly expressed optimism over keeping the eagle.
“We have a chance to keep the bird. As they have given us the permission to keep it so far, we can do a lot more, if not this particular bird, then a different one from them,” Aida said.
She said Adamawa State deserves to have the specie as the Ministry of Tourism and Culture have done much through officials of the Jimeta Children Amusement Park to nurse the sick Finish bird back to life.
