Article by Tracy Chalmers
E
agle Encounters was
founded in 2001, by Hank
and Tracy Chalmers, as a
bird of prey centre
equipped to handle raptor rescue,
rehabilitation, education, conservation and eco-tourism - all through
the utilization of falconry techniques that have been tried and
tested over 4,000 years.
We approached Spier for our home
base, as we needed a safe environment for releasing our rehabilitated
Photos by Michael Chalmers
raptors, and Spier was already operating as a fully organic farm. Fourteen years down the road, we are
proud to be a part of Spier’s trailblazing organic and environmental
drive!
Rescue & Rehabilitation:
Eagle Encounters receives birds that
are ill, injured, poisoned or illegally
removed from nests. Our primary
objective in every case is to release
healthy, fit, self-sustainably hunting
and able-breeding raptors back into
the wild. Realistically, in some cases the injury severity or incorrect
handling of a bird prior to admission may force us to declare it ‘nonreleasable’. According to our records, we proudly average a 65% to
70% release rate.
Although we are foremost raptor
specialists, since our founding a
need has arisen for us to expand
into working with other types of
wildlife. This has presented us with
somewhat of a learning curve, how-