A bald eagle sits on a Bangor sidewalk, dazed from lead poisoning, as people clutter around, fumbling with their phones to take a close-up picture of the grounded raptor. Elsewhere, a loon has become tangled in a fishing line, painfully restricting its movements as it flops around helplessly while horrified witnesses look on.

While these instances would be considered a rare occurrence to many, they are unfortunate scenarios that the people of Avian Haven, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Freedom, Maine, see too often and work quickly to rectify. Executive Director Diane Winn spoke on their behalf during a presentation Saturday in Nutting Hall.

Avian Haven is a rescue and rehabilitation center that follows the human model for compassion, which focuses on valuing each individual rather than just the population of species. Working with veterinarians and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, Avian Haven is considered to be the top rescue and rehabilitation center for birds in Maine, as their caseload is the highest in Northern New England.

Winn, along with many of Avian Haven’s staff and volunteers, ensured that every bird, and sometimes even reptile, in danger has a fighting chance. Co-founder of The Friends of Dr. Edith Marion Patch and event sponsor Mary Bird believe that the issues raised by Avian Haven are increasingly more understood by the public, which to her is an encouraging sign.

“I’ve actually been called to come pick up injured birds on campus. There are several of us affiliated with the university who do volunteer transport,” Bird said, “The wildlife conservation program here on campus is pretty pronounced and people are increasingly aware of the issue.”

Winn emphasized the importance of people not trying to rehabilitate birds they had found on their own. Citing an example, she said a couple of baby birds that were recovered from some people who had been feeding them the wrong types of food, which resulted in a calcium deficiency, leaving the birds too weak to stand. Winn stressed that situations like these shouldn’t be left to assumption and that proper steps should be taken to help the birds.

“If you’re not sure [what to do], call us,” Winn said.

Another subject Winn addressed during her presentation was to share how lead poisoning was increasingly damaging bald eagles in Maine.

Winn shared several stories concerning how lead fragments from hunters’ kills had been ingested by eagles and resulted in the illness and (in most cases) death of our nation’s bird. Last year, Avian Haven had a total of 158 Eagles admitted for rescue and out of that total, 54 had lead poisoning. Out of the 54 Eagles admitted with lead poisoning, 37 lost their lives.

Winn explained that illnesses related to this scenario were due to lead fragments originating from hunters’ bullets used to kill game, and that secondary harm could be prevented to eagles and other wildlife if the use of copper bullets was implemented.

To emphasize her point, she showed a brief but solemn video of an eagle gasping for air and succumbing to lead poisoning. It’s shallow croaks and wheezes caused many in the audience to cringe and some to look away. Winn’s demonstration of lead poisoning affect left an impact with the audience, as questions continued to focus on the issue of lead versus copper bullets even after the presentation had ended.

University of Maine senior and wildlife ecology student Krystal Poulin was very excited by what she saw and revealed that she had just been accepted as an intern with Avian Haven this summer.

“I’m very passionate about wildlife in general, so that’s kind of what got me to this point,” Poulin said. “Hearing all of these stories and experiences that they’ve had gets me really excited to have experiences of my own and to pass mine on to others as well.”

As for Winn’s presentation, Poulin acknowledged the importance of rehabilitating and rescuing Maine’s bird life.

“I think it’s really important, because people don’t realize that there is a population aspect and bird life is super important for populations,” Poulin said. “But you kind of have to start with the individual.”