They chased him all day Sunday throughout the mountains of Tennessee, a team of cops and executives and avian specialists all racing to bring a bald eagle named Rockland back home safe and sound.
First he was spotted at a local hotel. Next a caller reported him perched on a car across town. Each time, team members rushed to the site, but "the advantage of those little stinkers have, that we don't, is they can take off," wryly notes one who watched him soar away - twice.
Rockland first vanished two weeks ago, along with winged compatriots Wesley and Caesar, when a storm sent a century-old tree through their netted enclosure in Dollywood, the theme park in Tennessee's Smoky Mountains that Dolly Parton co-owns. The attraction in the singer's hometown houses the largest sanctuary for non-releasable bald eagles in the world, since partnering with the American Eagle Foundation (AEF) 35 years ago.
"Bald eagles have symbolised our country's freedom and heritage for more than 220 years," the singer said in 2003, when she was honoured for her work in eagle conservation by the federal government.
Although the sanctuary has released 185 bald eagles into the wild over the years, all three of these escaped eagles have limited flight ability, and there is real fear for their safety if they remain at large.
