Rehabilitated bald eagle moving to Calif.

A bald eagle is headed to California after undergoing rehabilitation at the Wildlife Center of Virginia for nearly two years.

The Waynesboro center says the eagle will be transferred Wednesday to Los Angeles, where it will become part of the Conservation Ambassadors, an environmental education program.

The center says the adult male eagle can’t be released because of a recurring injury to the primary flight feathers on the bird’s left wing.

Randy Huwa, the executive director for the Wildlife Center, said it had been waiting for a mult growth – a process where an eagle regrows its feathers. But that never took place with this eagle, Huwa said, meaning the eagle could never again fly.

“In this case, it’s a bird that had problems with feather growth,” Huwa said.

The eagle was found at a marina in Westmoreland County in 2006 with its feathers partially covered in oil. It was admitted to the wildlife center on Oct. 11, 2006.

At the time, the eagle could run well, according to the Wildlife Center, but it could not fly and was emaciated. Within its first month at the Waynesboro facility, the eagle lost many of its flight feathers.

Radiographs taken in July showed no sign of joint, bone or soft-tissue damage that could cause it to re-injure itself.

Huwa said the eagle may return to the region, however. The Conservation Ambassadors has a relationship with Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg and, on occasion, brings some of its animals to the amusement park for the summer season, and said this eagle could make such a trip in the future.

The eagle was one of 29 admitted to the Wildlife Center in 2006. Huwa said its length of stay puts it in the top-five of all animals that have come to the Waynesboro facility, and number one among eagles.

Huwa said the average stay for animals of all species is about 12 days.

In 2007, the center treated a single-year record 36 eagles. This year, the center has admitted 21 eagles.