Army veteran Jason Galvin was outside his family’s cabin near Rush City, Minnesota when noticed something odd way up in one of the trees. What he saw was a bald eagle tangled in a rope 75 feet up in the air.
Galvin contacted local authorities to see if anyone could help free the bird – and symbol of America – only to be told that nothing could be done and that the bird was probably already dead.
Not satisfied with that answer, Galvin, who served in Afghanistan, decided to use his sharpshooting skills to try to free the bird.
Reports KWWL…
“He had jokingly said, we could try to shoot it down,” said Jason’s wife, Jackie Galvin. “I said, “Yup, that’s what you’re going to do,’ ”
Jason said he wouldn’t shoot the limb to help bring the eagle down if he couldn’t do it safely. That’s when a conservation officer gave him the green light.
It took Jason 150 shots to chip away at the limb with slow, precise shots. But, eventually his bullets brought down the limb and the eagle into some soft underbrush beneath the tree.
After the bird was caged, the conservation officer took it in the front seat of his truck to a raptor center for treatment.
“Fourth of July, you know, that’s our bird, I can’t let it sit there,” said Jason.
“He fought for our freedom again yesterday,” said Jackie Galvin.
Damn right he did.
Add in the fact that he performed such an act heading into the weekend of the birth of our country only makes it even more American as fuck.
The eagle was taken to the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota and is expected to survive.
H/T Huffington Post