A bald eagle battling for it’s life died early Monday evening.

The iconic bird, coming from Lycoming County, was getting help at Centre Wildlife Care. Although workers did what they could to save him, the worst became reality.

“They’re special, they’re our nation’s symbol,” Robyn Graboski from Centre Wildlife Care said earlier Monday. “It’s devastating when we get a bald eagle that is this sick.”

The bird was lying helplessly in its cage with little movement. He was not his usual self because of the toxic level of lead in his blood stream.

“Typically bald eagles are aggressive and they’re dangerous and this bird is not,” Graboski said. “I mean we don’t have to wear gloves to handle him because this bird is so sick.”

All his misery was believed to be caused by eating animals shot by traditional lead ammo. Unfortunately this is something Centre Wildlife Care employees told us they see too often.

Graboski said she encourages hunters to use non-lead ammo to prevent these situations from happening in the first place.