BEAUTY AND THE BEAK
January 22, 2017
Cedar Key winter resident Janie Veltkamp will be the featured presenter at the Saturday, February 4 talk at the Cedar Key Public Library. The talk will begin at 10:30 am.
In her new upcoming book, Beauty and the Beak, we learn how Veltkamp, a raptor biologist, created a prosthetic beak for a bald eagle from Alaska. Once wild and free, Beauty’s world was shattered by an illegal bullet that damaged her entire upper beak leaving her helpless to feed herself. That’s when Veltkamp created the “Beauty Team” of biologists, dentists, engineers and veterinarians and who designed through collaboration a 3D printed beak for the bald eagle. Her upcoming book describes the natural history of bald eagles from hatching to the time at age 4, as a sub adult Beauty was injured and right up to the 3 hours of surgery that would restore her bald eagle beak! Would it function? Learn more about this unique eagle and her north Idaho journey!
Janie Veltkamp is a raptor biologist and rehabilitator, wildlife educator, trained nurse, and master falconer. She has lifetime care of Beauty the bald eagle and led the engineering team who made Beauty’s prosthetic beak. Jane is founding director of Birds of Prey Northwest, in Idaho, which educates the public about raptor conservation, including through live raptor programs, and provides medical treatment and rehabilitation to thousands of injured birds of prey. She is the eagle expert for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Native American Aviary.
Visit birdsofpreynorthwest.org
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