A U.S. Army veteran utilized his shooting talents to rescue a bald eagle stuck in a tree days before the Fourth of July.
Jason Galvin, who served two tours in Afghanistan, spotted the eagle entangled in a rope while he was driving in rural Minnesota last week, wrote his wife, Jackie Gervais Galvin, on her Facebook page Friday.
The eagle had been hanging upside down by its foot in a tree at the end of the couple’s road for more than two days when Galvin used a .22-caliber rifle to break the 4-inch rope. After firing 150 rounds, the eagle became free, falling 75 feet to the ground.
The couple wrapped the bird in a blanket and brought it to the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center where it is now recovering. Galvin wrote that her husband never hit the eagle with a shot.
"We named the eagle Freedom and hope to be able to release him near his home once he is back to health!" she wrote. "What an amazing hero, my Army veteran saving an eagle on 4th of July Weekend!"
