The bald eagle's recovery from near-extinction is a conservation success story, but eagles still face significant welfare threats from human activities.
Lead poisoning causes severe, prolonged suffering in affected eagles including neurological damage, seizures, inability to fly, and slow starvation before death. Wildlife rehabilitation centers treat hundreds of lead-poisoned raptors annually, with many too severely affected for release. Power line electrocution causes traumatic injury and death. Habitat loss reduces territorial access for breeding pairs, increasing stress and reproductive failure. These preventable causes of suffering represent ongoing failures of wildlife-human coexistence.