Mister America's Broken Wing

Good Friday, April 14th, 2017 started like many holidays.  School was out, springtime  was here, and what better way to spend it than outside hunting morels with my wife and son.  It was something that we had done so many times before, but what happened as the day came to an end is something I will never forget.  We were driving down a logging road towards the back of the property and in the road in front of us was a Bald Eagle.  Not wanting  to spook the bird, I got out of the truck and slowly walked towards the eagle to see why he had not flown away.  The eagle started to walk away dragging its right wing on the ground.  Quickly realizing it had a broken wing and could not fly, I called a friend of mine who was an Indiana Conservation Officer.   With darkness approaching, and the officer over an hour away, my family and I sat there in the truck and guarded the injured eagle from any predators that may find him .   Soon after Officer Ken Tincher arrived, we had caught the eagle and had him safely in a cage on his way to Angel Lange in Vincennes, Indiana.

Angel and Joanne Lange care for injured animals and pay the cost of medical treatment out of their own pocket.   They are truly wonderful people who go above and beyond and remind me more of Saint Francis of Assisi.  Angel and I have spoken about the eagle daily.   His grandaughter named the eagle Mister America.  This morning, April 18th,  Angel left at 5:00 AM to take Mister America to Lafayette, Indiana for a 10:00 surgery to try to repair the wing.  We will know in a few days if the surgery was successful.  The cost for this procedure was around $9000.  Angel has no idea that I am starting this GoFundMe page, and I want to help pay for the medical costs to get this wonderful eagle healed again and back out in the wild where he belongs.

I set the target goal for $25,000 as there will be more costs associated with the procedure.  Every dollar I raise will go towards the medical bills and any amount over what is needed I will donate to Independencefund.org.  This is a charity organization that buys track chairs for wounded American Veterens.  Considering Angel and his wife Joanne met in the Navy and come from a long line of Veterans I felt any extra money going to help a soldier who lost a leg or can't walk, would be the patriotic thing to do.   Such is the case with our National symbol the Bald Eagle with his broken wing, we can pray that this bird will fly again.