Tennis Ball Aids in Eagle’s Capture

A bald eagle that clawed a young girl and harassed other beach goers since late last week was captured Wednesday.

Police say the eagle was caught by an animal control officer in Salisbury, Mass., near the New Hampshire line, and was brought to the Coastal Animal Clinic there, police said.

Its identity was confirmed by using a photograph, police said.

The eagle, which has a 6-foot wingspan, had been released into the wild from a North Carolina wildlife reserve and had been menacing people since Friday. On Sunday, it slightly injured a girl and two adults.

On Tuesday, the eagle swooped down and clawed a 3-year-old girl on the back. Kayla Finn of Albany, N.Y., was running down the beach near two other children playing football. Her father brushed away the bird. She did not require medical attention.

“Other beaches have sharks, but at Hampton, we had to be different,” said Peter MacKinnon, the town’s animal control officer. “We had to get an attack eagle.”

The bird spent most of Tuesday perched on chimneys and rooftops, sidestepping officials each time they came close.

A local animal control officer, Jim Lindley, “lured it by tossing up a tennis ball and some food--roast beef and ham,” said New Hampshire Fish and Game Department spokesman Eric Aldrich. “He got close enough so he could grab its feet and neck.”

The bird, which is about 14 months old, posed little real danger to humans, officials said.

Beach goers made the situation worse by feeding the eagle, officials said. “He associates people with food, and that’s the worst possible situation for a wild bird,” MacKinnon said.

Because the eagle was attracted to footballs, officials later tried to lure it to the beach by tossing around a small green football. The eagle stayed out of the game.

“It’s not acting like an eagle; it’s acting like a pigeon,” said state wildlife biologist Eric Orff.

Some of the spectators criticized the officials’ tactics.

“It’s too obvious for him, the people with the bait down there,” said Jonathan Joiner, 14, of Boston. “I don’t think he’s that stupid. He’s up there laughing.”

The eagle had been injured in Kernersville, N.C., on May 17. It was nursed back to health at the Carolina Raptor Center near Charlotte, N.C., before it was released.

“It obviously had picked up some bad habits since it was released,” Aldrich said. Earlier, officials said the bird had been released from a Massachusetts facility.