Cedar City » A golden eagle is being nursed back to health after it was hit by a vehicle and its tail features were pulled out with pliers.

Raptor rehabilitator Martin Tyner, president of the Southwest Wildlife Foundation in Cedar City, said Monday the eagle suffered cuts, bumps and bruises after being hit on U.S. 50 near Salina in Sevier County. But the more serious injuries were to its tail feathers.

Tyner said the adult bird, either a large male or smaller female, likely suffered when the feathers were removed.

"It would be equivalent to a person being held on the ground and having their fingernails ripped out with pliers," said Tyner, who has federal and state licenses to care for injured raptors.

Bonnie Bell, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Cedar City, said an investigation will likely be conducted with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR). It is illegal under federal and state law to possess eagle feathers without a special permit; the maximum penalty is a year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.

Bell said most cases involving illegal possession of eagle feathers do not involve a live bird.

Tyner said he received the bird Sunday from Lt. Scott Dalebout, a law enforcement official with the DWR. While they were recording information from a band placed earlier on the eagle's leg in Montana, they noticed the tail feathers were missing.

It is unknown if the vehicle's driver or someone else removed the feathers, which are considered sacred by American Indian cultures and are prized as souvenirs by others. Dalebout said Monday it is difficult to file charges in such cases because of a lack of evidence at the scene.

He encouraged anyone with information to call the DWR's poaching hotline.

Tyner said it appears the feathers were removed shortly after the bird was hit, based on the freshness of blood in the wounds. Because the tail feather quills are embedded up to 1.5 inches in the bird's flesh, pliers are the only way they could be extracted.

He said it's too early to tell if the eagle can be returned to the wild. While the wounds from the vehicle will likely heal, the bird would be unable to maneuver while flying and could starve if the tail feathers don't grow back. Whether they grow back depends on how much damage was done to the quill sockets in which the feathers are embedded.

Tyner said in the 30 years he has been rehabilitating birds of prey in Utah, this is only the second or third live bird he has treated with missing tail feathers. More often a raptor is found dead with feathers missing and claws cut off.

"People like [claws] as souvenirs to hang from their rearview mirrors," he said.

Vehicles are the main cause of injuries to eagles he treats. The birds feed on road kill and often eat too much to fly out of the way of an approaching vehicle.

"Even that flock of ravens you see feeding on the road can have an eagle among them, so if you see birds feeding, slow down," Tyner said. "If everyone would take more care, then I'd be out of business and I'd love to be out of business."

mhavnes@sltrib.com