Local raptor specialist fighting to keep bald eagle

ELKINS – Imagine having nurtured and become close friends with an animal that has been by your side for the past 11 years. Now imagine being notified that the animal will be taken away from you in three months.

That’s exactly what local raptor specialist Jo Santiago was told will happen with the bald eagle, Freedom, that has been part of her everyday life for more than a decade.

The American Eagle Foundation (AEF), a nonprofit organization, recently notified Santiago that they will reclaim Freedom from her after loaning her the bird back in 2015.

“I borrowed Freedom from the AEF and now they want him back after 11 years,” Santiago said. “A short time ago, the AEF told me that they were changing their policies and were no longer having sub-permittees. They said they are doing away with sub- permittees and they wanted him, Freedom, back. I have had him for 11 years, he is bonded to me.”

Santiago, who worked with the Forest Service for 28 years, is known around the area for rescuing birds of prey and taking the necessary steps to rehabilitate them before releasing them back into the wild.

Santiago’s crusade to obtain a bald eagle began in 2011 when she was asked during one of her inspirational birds of prey presentations if she had ever taken any of her birds and given a presentation to veterans.

“When I was asked about the veterans, it came to me that the birds I work with are warrior birds, and they are permanently injured birds, so they are actually wounded warriors,” Santiago said. “So, I told them that I would bring my wounded warriors to meet theirs, and I was at the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center in Clarksburg for that first presentation.

“It was a life-changing, profound moment for me when I met those veterans. I didn’t expect to be hit like that. I could feel the pain in that room, and I still feel it every day. I will never forget that moment, it has not lessened in the least.”

After making the presentation, Santiago recalls a conversation she had with a veteran in attendance.

“One of the veterans came up to me and said ‘you don’t know what you just did for us,'” Santiago said. “I told him that it was the other way around and said I now get what my freedom cost, and I owe a huge, huge debt to you all.

“I told him that I knew what the veterans had done for me and asked him what I could do for them. He, and all the veterans present, asked me to bring them a bald eagle. I spent the next three and a half years trying to get a bald eagle. I applied for my own permit and I was unsuccessful. So, I prayed about it and God led me to ask the head of the AEF (at that time) to borrow the bird.”

Santiago said she met with the head of the AEF, who happened to be a Vietnam veteran, and was told that she could be put on the organization’s permit to obtain Freedom as a sub-permittee.

“The AEF has a permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and I’m listed on that permit as a sub-permittee,” Santiago said.

For the past 11 years, Santiago has taken Freedom to the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center each month, where the duo has been a significant part of the hospital’s PTSD/Substance Abuse Rehabilitation Program.

“The veterans that I have been working with for the past 11 years, they don’t need this kind of disappointment. They will be devastated if I lose Freedom,” Santiago said. “They are attached to him, they love him, and they consider him their family. They are moved by having a bald eagle there. You have no idea what Freedom means to veterans. Freedom is the living symbol of what they fought for.”

Beyond her monthly visits to the Louis A. Johnson VA Medical Center, Santiago and Freedom have also made presentations around West Virginia and the country for first responders, active-duty military members, school children and more.

Santiago, who has 36 years of experience working with birds of prey, believes that Freedom will be traumatized if he is removed from his home.

“He treats me like another bald eagle, he treats me like his mate,” Santiago said. “We build nests together. I’ll give him replica eggs and he sits on them. And then he expects me to sit on them and I do, so he walks around making sure I have everything covered. For him to be taken from his West Virginia home where he’s adjusted and very happy, it will be a huge trauma to him. He is family.”

The Inter-Mountain has called and emailed the American Eagle Foundation, seeking comment for this article, but received no response by press time.

In order to keep Freedom, Santiago is looking to obtain her own permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has complete authority over what happens to the Bald Eagle.

“I’m looking to get my own permit by being grandfathered in because I have had Freedom for so long,” Santiago said. “The AEF does not own Freedom. I don’t. The USFWS has authority over him."

Santiago says that because U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito works closely with the USFWS, she has reached out to Capito’s office for help with the ongoing situation.

“We are asking people to go on Senator Capito’s website and go to the contact link,” Santiago said. “Once you click on the contact link there will be a drop-down menu where there is a place to 'Share Your Stories.’ We are asking people to fill out the form there. The form has a 'Personal Stories' section at the bottom, and we’re asking people to write in that area that 'I Stand for Freedom the bald eagle remaining in his home with Jo in West Virginia and serving veterans.’ That’s all they need to write.”

There will also be a “Stand for Freedom” presentation at the Osborn Shelter in the Veteran’s Memorial Park in Clarksburg on Sunday at 1 p.m. Santiago said she will bring Freedom to the presentation and will be talking to people at the event about what they can do to help keep Freedom in West Virginia serving our veterans. She will also have her falcon and screech owl at the family friendly presentation.

Santiago added that the American Eagle Foundation plans on using Freedom as a replacement for Challenger, which is a bald eagle used at events, including flying at football stadiums.

“This is not going to benefit Freedom in any way, it’s going to harm him,” Santiago said. “They want Freedom to take Challenger’s place because they are retiring him and Freedom is already 27 years old.”

Santiago said that Freedom is not fit to be released back into the wild because of injuries he suffered in the past.

“When he was about 10 weeks old, he was either pushed out of his nest by a sibling, or he was blown out by a storm,” Santiago said. “We don’t know exactly what happened to him but he ended up on the ground before he was ready to fly. So, there he is on the ground and here comes a Doberman Pinscher and they fought. The dog reached around and grabbed Freedom by his tail and ripped his tail feathers out. And when he did that, he permanently damaged Freedom’s feather follicles.

“His feathers grew back and they are not as flexible, so in the winter with the cold and ice, they tend to get broken. A bird can fly without a full tail, but not that well. They can’t turn well or brake to slow down with feathers like his. Because Freedom doesn’t have reliable tail feathers, he’s not releasable. While Freedom was at the AEF, he also had a fungal infection in his lungs and now has an enlarged heart.”

Santiago is asking those wanting to help not to engage with the AEF. Instead, she is asking for supporters of Freedom to go to the link on Senator Capito’s website, at https://www.capito.senate.gov/ShareYourStories.