The Missouri Department of Conservation recently captured a bald eagle at the Wilson's Creek National Battlefield thinking it was hurt.
Looking at their Facebook post (which is now going viral) you can see the x-rays where they had a shocking realization. The bird was engorged with food. It was otherwise perfectly healthy!
The bird had eaten so much that it was now too fat to fly!
A typical bald eagle can carry a 3rd of it's bodyweight (they typically weigh around 12 pounds). They have been seen to carry loads as heavy as half their body weight in the air.
So this fella had eaten about half his body weight and couldn't get off the ground anymore!
The X-rays show he had stuffed himself on racoon.
Comments on the post are laughing at the idea that the national symbol of America became too fat to fly.
Photo: VisionsofAmerica/Joe Sohm / DigitalVision / Getty Images