The latest local news, weather and high school sports from the Heartland

QUINCY, ILL. -- The Quincy Raptor Rescue program gave some eagle watchers a rare chance to see one of the birds up close and personal as it prepared to release one back into the wild on Wednesday.

The bird was found by a conservation agent along the side of the road in Schuyler County, Mo., in December. It was suffering from a possible head injury and wounds to both shoulders.

"We of course did an evaluation, X-rays and stuff. He did have some wing issues we had to repair. He had gotten stunned and that's probably, he probably hit something and that's why he was actually laying on the side of the road. We were fortunate that he wasn't hurt that bad," said Karen Roush. Roush works with the Raptor Rescue program.

Despite his nickname of "Chester", Roush says the rescue program was very careful not to make the wild animal dependent on people. "They're gonna expect for the humans, to rely on their food.  They're not going to go out and hunt. Maybe stay in somebody's back yard waiting to be taken care of," she said.

The eagle spent a month at the rescue center for rehabilitation before being released along the Mississippi River on Wednesday.

(KHQA Television reporter Stephen Johnson contributed to this story.)