"Brian" is named after the Dentist who gave his time and labour to bring this Bald Eagle back to health after a gun shot to its upper beak.
After hearing a gun shot some residents of Tofino, BC noticed a truck driving away then discovered the wounded raptor and immediately took it to Rory’s Refuge, a member of the Wildlife Rehabilitation Network of British Columbia where it was then transported to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Centre (NIWRA)in Errington, BC.
The shot had blown away most of its upper beak, leaving just the tip which remained attached to his skull by a thin piece of cartilage. A Veterinarians suggested that Brian be put down however Robin Campbell of the NIWRA persevered, and slowly the bird started to recover.
Campbell, believing that where there’s a will, there’s a way, alerted the local newspaper asking if there might be a dentist in the area prepared to give Brian a new beak. That’s when Dr. Brian Andrews from Nanaimo, B.C. offered his services.
Andrews took an exact mould and built a wax model of the beak and provided it to Dental Technician Fred Leak of Victoria, B.C. to work with.
Leak then constructed a permanent prosthesis and tinted it yellow to match the rest of Brian’s beak ... and the rest is history. Further information may be found at: http://www.northislandwildliferecoverycenter.org/whatsnew.htm