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Two young Bald Eagles will be released in Grafton, NY Friday
August 15, 2003 at the Bird Paradise in Grafton NY
By The Troy Record

These Bald Eagles are the offspring of two permanently disabled parents hatched in May 2003. Peter Dubacher director of Berkshire Bird Paradise said we are very proud of our near impossible accomplishment.

These two young birds are named Faith and Hope.

“I don’t recall any Bald Eagles bred in captivity in New York prior to this,” says Dr. Ward Stone, who for 34 years has served as Wildlife Pathologist for the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation and who was the first scientist to identify West Nile Virus. “Only a couple of hundred of these birds exist in New York. There is a very small buffer between this number and extinction,” he adds. “Captive breeding programs may be an answer; they’re likely to be needed in the future. Peter Dubacher’s notes on caring for these birds would be invaluable for this.”

Dr.Ward Stone refers to the Berkshire Bird Paradise’s Peter Dubacher as “The Mother Teresa of birds,” since for decades “he has taken in all kinds of birds that people are throwing away, and the wind up with him for a lifetime.” Even the good zoos want only perfect specimens, he explains. The birds Peter rescues – some missing all or a portion of a wing, some blind, some missing a leg – would never survive in the wild. “Peter is selfless, always looking out for the welfare of his animals, even above his own welfare, and he has been doing this for decades,” Dr. Stone adds. This is not a fly-by-night operation.

Although 17 eagles (both Golden and Bald) reside at the Berkshire Bird Paradise, not counting the recent hatchlings or the prospective offspring from two other nesting pairs, they are not the sole residents. The sanctuary currently houses more the 2,000 birds, including more than 100 species. Emus, Sandhill cranes, parrots, and macaws reside there, as owner’s tire of these exotic species. More mundane species to be seen there include swans crows, pigeons – including the white pigeons released at weddings and funerals and then forgotten – and chickens also find a shelter there. A New York City policewoman recently dropped off a small flock of chicks she had found in a garbage can, a discarded Easter gift.

The Berkshire Bird Paradise is open to the public for visits from May 24 until autumn. An admission fee is requested of visitors. Directions and information about the sanctuary are available by telephone, at 1-518-279-3801, or at the sanctuary’s web site: www.birdparadise.org

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