In the spring of 2010, one lone Steppe Eagle was shot down on a firing range in Afghanistan. Fortunately, help was available from former Army Ranger Scott Hickman and his buddy, Navy SEAL Greg Wright, who took him in and gave him the healing he needed. They named him Mitch.
It wasn’t long, though, before they realized they had to find Mitch a safer home than the war zone they were in. Through the strange synchronicities of time, place, and the Internet, they got in touch with the one man just crazy enough to try to help—Pete Dubacher, founder of the Berkshire Bird Paradise, in upstate New York.
Dubacher, in turn, enlisted the aid of Barbara Chepaitis, who was just celebrating the release of her book Feathers of Hope, about Pete and his bird sanctuary. Thinking it would be an easy task, she quickly agreed to help, but she soon found out that although saving an eagle might seem like a no-brainer, there were plenty of people ready to tell her it couldn’t be done.