N.C Storm Kills Two Baby Bald Eagles

CHARLOTTE, N.C., March 3 (UPI) -- A rainstorm that swept through North Carolina this week claimed the lives of two baby bald eagles recently born at the Carolina Raptor Center.
The center's executive director told the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer that the two infant birds likely drowned or succumbed to hypothermia during Thursday's storm even as their mother attempted to save them.
"Unfortunately, we had a huge rainstorm, and nature took them back," Alan Barnhardt said.
The pair of baby bald eagles had represented only the third and fourth of their species born in North Carolina, following a pair of eagles born last year to the same parents.
The baby eagles, who were born just last week, were especially susceptible to the storm as their parents' nest had been built on the ground.
The unusual location for the nest was due both to injuries to the parents and a lack of predators at the manmade location.
The paper said that while center officials did witness the unfortunate incident occur, the locale's policy is not to interfere with the eagles' natural parental process.
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