Earlier this week, Cyrano, a bald eagle in Anchorage, Alaska had an appointment with the local dentist about an unusual problem - a giant big hole in his majestic beak!
Cyrano's saga began in December, when he was found injured with a huge hole in his upper beak, believed to have been caused by a fishing line that wrapped around and cut through his beak. Fortunately, he was rescued and taken to the Bird Treatment and Learning Center in Anchorage.
However, the staff at the Bird Center was at a loss about how to handle the issue. In all their years of treating injured birds, the veterinarians had never encountered a problem like this, but knew that if something wasn't done soon, the beak would snap off completely - which would mean certain death for the eagle, since he would be unable to feed himself.
They decided to consult Kirk Johnson, a local dentist to see if he had any ideas for this big 'tooth''. Sure enough, the dentist came up with the ingenious idea of filling up the hole with the putty normally used for constructing temporary crowns in humans.
So, in a procedure that took about an hour, the kind dentist filled up the hole in the beak and colored it with a yellow highlighter to ensure that it blended in with Cyrano's real beak.
While Cyrano will remain at the center until the doctors can figure out a more permanent solution, there is no danger of the rest of his beak falling off - and the best part is, he will be able to eat normally once the putty sets. Meanwhile, he seems happy hanging out at the center and nibbling at the pieces of fish, cut up specially for him.
sources:dailymail.co.uk,wcsh6.com