Raptor Rehab : Wildlife: A Simi Valley man is helping an injured golden eagle learn to fly and hunt again in his growing, back-yard-based program.

A frightened, injured golden eagle arrived Tuesday at a Simi Valley house where Jerry Thompson hopes to give it back the gift of flight.

The federally protected bird, which apparently suffered a broken wing after being shot out of the sky, was seized from a home in Downey, then taken to a Long Beach veterinarian for surgery. But to help the bird learn to fly and hunt again, state authorities sought out the Raptor Rehabilitation and Release Program, which operates behind Thompson’s modest suburban house.

“It was recommended as the best place to bring the bird,” said Holly Hollingsworth, the California Department of Fish and Game warden who ferried the bird from Long Beach to Simi Valley.

Thompson, whose back yard is filled with injured and orphaned hawks, raccoons, snakes and other animals, says the demand for his services is so strong that he is running out of room. He has opened talks with Ventura County and the city of Ventura, seeking to move the program to an area park.

“It’s ludicrous to put this on in my back yard much longer,” said Thompson, 49, Raptor Rehabilitation’s program director. “We’re bursting at the seams.”

A raptor is a bird of prey. Since the nonprofit organization was founded almost four years ago under the auspices of the Moorpark College Exotic Animal Training and Management Program, it actually has expanded to aid small perching birds and mammals.

On Tuesday, while awaiting the arrival of the golden eagle, Thompson received calls concerning a blackbird and an opossum, both injured. In recent weeks, he said, he has accepted ailing ground squirrels, deer, a bobcat and a red fox.

The main focus, however, is birds. Last year, he said, Raptor Rehabilitation handled 152 birds of prey and returned 73% to the wild. The others are used in education programs or euthanized.

Thompson and his volunteers are now tending several young red-tailed hawks that were dislodged from a nest near Ojai when a returning space shuttle created a jarring sonic boom.

When the golden eagle arrived Tuesday, Thompson carefully examined the bird before letting it test its six-foot wingspan inside a wooden enclosure. “The range was pretty good,” he said.

He plans to coax the bird into moving the injured wing regularly so it will regain its flying skills. It eventually will be fed live rodents to restore its hunting instincts.

Hollingsworth said police in Downey found the eagle during an unrelated home burglary investigation. The residents told her that they had found it injured in the Paso Robles area, she said.

Initially, authorities believed that the bird would never fly again, and the Orange County Zoological Society wanted to add the eagle to its public collection. But after the bird underwent surgery, zoo officials agreed that rehabilitation should be attempted first.

The society offered to pay for its food while the eagle is at the raptor center.

“With any luck, instead of being an exhibit in our zoo, it will be returned to the wild,” said Lawrence Kosmin, a veterinarian and president of the Orange County Zoological Society.

Raptor Rehabilitation covers its own expenses through fund-raisers but does not charge for its services. Thompson, who receives Social Security disability payments because of a hip ailment, is not paid for his work in directing the organization.

Area park officials said Tuesday that negotiations to provide a new home for the animal program are in a very early stage.

“We’re a long way from being there,” said Beth Cohen, a Ventura city recreation supervisor. “But we are interested. They are well respected. We call them when we have sick birds.”

Cohen said the talks are focusing on a newly restored building at Arroyo Verde Park in Ventura. But she said Thompson and the city still must discuss operating costs and security for the animals when the park is closed.

Andy Oshita, parks manager for Ventura County, said he has told Thompson that space may be available at Oak or Tapo Canyon parks near Simi Valley or Steckel Park near Santa Paula.