Confirming the discovery to newsmen yesterday in his office, the state Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mr. Godwin Nyame, said a young man by name Daddi Saidu caught the first and smaller bird in a fish trap while fishing in the river. "The bird was trapped when trying to snatch fish."
According to him, when the young man discovered that the golden coloured flying creature was carrying an iron tag on its claws with an inscription he quickly reported the matter to the local authority and in return the agricultural and natural resources desk officer of the locality was briefed and on reporting the matter to the state office he was directed to move the bird to Jalingo, the state capital, for further examination.
Nyame said on receiving the bird on Thursday afternoon, they discovered that it was an infant eagle carrying an inscription which reads "museum zoo L Helsinki Finland" with a tag number M-58211.
He said with the information on the eagle it suggested that it must have likely escaped from a zoo located in Finland.He said, "When we discovered this we quickly reported the matter to the Veterinary Services Department at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources and we were directed to take specimen for immediate analysis at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Vom, Plateau State."
He further explained that while they were making efforts to take the specimen, more information reached him that a similar bird bearing the same characteristics had been trapped in a fish net by another young fisherman at the same river."We then directed our field officers to convey it to Jalingo for the same laboratory examination".
The commissioner said the essence of taking the analysis was to ascertain the condition of the birds to ensure they were not carrying any virus or any other contaminated diseases harmful to man or other birds.
According to him, already the bird's blood and stool have been taken for the laboratory analysis and some officers are presently getting information on the internet about the museum /zoo.
Giving additional explanation, the state Director of Veterinary Services, Dr. Hiko Agbu, said the history of migrating birds is common in Africa and is not strange within the Karim Lamido axis but what makes the present incident unique was the nature of the birds. According to him, an eagle had never been discovered in that area.
He said Karim is one of the wet lands within the country, which falls within the root of migrating birds and this is not the first discovery. He explained that birds from Europe usually have seasoned migration, mostly to escape the winter and mostly pass through the Mediterranean Sea in the process of migrating to Africa in search of Fadama areas where they can feed on insects and reptiles.
He said in the past the issue of migrating birds was not given attention but with the advent and spread of the deadly bird flu disease it became a source of worry to government.