Jailbreak: Illy the Eagle overpowers guard in bid for freedom

A bald eagle is flying free again after a December run-in with Revelstoke RCMP led to some time in the slammer.

In December, Illy the Eagle was apprehended near the Illecillewaet River by RCMP with some help from a posse of locals. At the time, the young eagle was suffering from an injury, thought to be a fractured wing. The bird was rounded up and sent to a Kamloops wildlife health centre, where tests confirmed the bird was suffering from a broken wing and was also anemic. (Read about that story here).

The eagle was nicknamed Illy, a shortened form of Illecillewaet, the name of the local river that is notoriously hard to spell and pronounce.

The bird had been in lockup ever since, while staff at the Fawcett Family Wildlife Health Centre in Kamloops nursed her back to health. The plan was to release her in Revelstoke this spring.

Apparently, Illy hatched other plans while biding her time in a cage.

Yesterday, on Feb. 8, she seized the moment when she caught a rehab centre staff member slipping. While the employee was attempting to feed the bird, she overpowered the worker and made a flying dash towards an open cage door.

“Illy was last observed flying high in the sky, heading in an easterly direction from Kamloops,” wrote RCMP Staff-Sgt. Kurt Grabinsky in a media statement. “The staff member was not harmed. Clearly [Illy] was ready to go, and given the opportunity, she made an unscheduled getaway!”

Revelstoke RCMP thanked members of the wildlife centre for nursing the bird back to health.