Famed Zoo Miami Young Eaglet, R2, Rescued From Potential Serious Injury, Death

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - One of the chicks born to South Florida's most famous bald eagles "Ron" and "Rita" required help from Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Last week, one of the young eagles, known as R1, successfully flew from the nest and R2 was ready to follow at any moment.

On Friday night, those monitoring the eagle cam noticed a large quantity of monofilament line in the nest.

Some of the line had wrapped around one of the feet of R2, preventing it from leaving the nest and potentially causing serious injury or death, according to Zoo Miami Communication Director Ron Magill and founder of the Ron Magill Conservation Endowment.

Through a collaboration between Lloyd Brown's Wildlife Rescue of Dade County Ron Magill, and the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue team at Platform 34, they used a platform truck to free the eaglet and remove the potentially deadly monofilament line.

Magill said R2 was startled by the rescue effort which caused it to fly away from the nest for the very time, and broke the line in the process.

When the nest was empty, crews removed all of the remaining monofilament line from the nest.

Magill says once these birds have left for the season, they will return to fortify the nest and install microphones so that next year when Ron & Rita hopefully return to nest again, people will not only be able to watch the eagles, but also hopefully hear the vocalizations of these amazing raptors.

To see the live Eagle Cam, click here.