A bird of prey faces being put to sleep within a fortnight unless enough money can be raised for potentially life-saving treatment.
Golden eagle Methuselah may have to be put down after developing a neurological disease that has forced her to give up flight and causes her to lean to one side on her perch.
Staff at Elite Falconry at Cluny, near Kirkcaldy, taught Methuselah how to fly in 2008, but cannot afford the cost of the tests to have her debilitating brain condition diagnosed and now fear for her future.
They need at least £2,000 to fund a CAT scan and MRI scan, which they hope will get to the bottom of what’s wrong with Methuselah, although they have acknowledged the fact the tests may yet show her condition is untreatable.
Nevertheless, Barry Blyther, the centre’s head falconer, said 37-year-old Methuselah could still live well beyond the 50 if her condition proves treatable and hopes members of the public will support the centre’s campaign to reach their fund-raising target as soon as possible.
”In flight, she used to be completely normal and balanced, but she has been getting progressively worse, so much so that she has probably deteriorated more in the last 14 days than she has in the last four years,” he explained.
”It’s been a tremendously rapid deterioration and it’s really sad to see, so we need to get these scans carried out as soon as we can.
”We have to be completely up front with people and say we might raise the £2,000 needed, but the tests might reveal what she has may be untreatable, which means that the kinder thing to do would be to put the bird to sleep within 14 days from today.
”But if there’s anything that can be done, either through invasive surgery or through some sort of drug regime, then it’s something we have to do because it’s devastating to see after everything that has happened to her.”
Methuselah was captured illegally from the wild in 1979 but was confiscated and rehomed the same year in the Highland Wildlife Park.
When the male she was kept with died, she was rehomed in Yorkshire where efforts were made to breed offspring using artificial insemination, although she was rehomed again at Elite Falconry after several attempts had failed.
Anyone who thinks they can help raise the funds needed for Methuselah’s treatment can contact Elite Falconry on 01592 722143.