Bald Eagle Deaths in Utah Alarm, Mystify Scientists

Buz Marthaler felt the once-proud aerial predator fall limp in his arms, and the veteran animal caretaker knew he was facing a mystery unlike any in his career.

Bald eagles are dying in Utah — 20 in the last few weeks alone — and nobody can figure out why.

Hundreds of the majestic birds — many with wing spans of 7 feet or more — migrate here each winter, gathering along the Great Salt Lake and feasting on carp and other fish that swim in the nearby freshwater bays.

Earlier this month, however, hunters and farmers across five counties in northern and central Utah began finding the normally skittish raptors lying, listless, on the ground. Many suffered from seizures, head tremors and paralysis in the legs, feet and wings.
Bald Eagle Deaths Fukushima?

Several of the ailing birds were taken to the mammoth Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah, where Marthaler and other handlers tried to save them. Within 48 hours most were dead.