Susan Gallagher and her husband, Jack, planned a leisurely Sunday at Lehigh Gorge State Park in Jim Thorpe.

Gallagher, chief naturalist and wildlife rehabilitator at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center, set out for a run, while Jack walked behind her.

They didn’t realize they were at the right place at the right time.

“I turned around and I was on my way back when I saw my husband talking to a small crowd of people,” Gallagher said.

As she neared, she saw what was happening.

An injured bald eagle was on a bank aside the Lehigh River.

“My husband and I were able to scoop it up,” Gallagher said. “It was debilitated enough at that point that it was not difficult to catch.”

Since she was out for a run — and Jack was out for a walk — neither of them equipment to contain or transport the eagle.

“I had nothing. I had no phone. I had no capture equipment, and no box or anything to put it in,” she said.

Gallagher borrowed a phone and called the Carbon County Communications Center.

“With coordination from our Comm Center and with help from a park ranger from DCNR, we were able to get the bird back here to the environmental center,” she said.

The female bird, she said, had an injury to its right wing. It was dehydrated and she and center staff administered antibiotics and pain medication.

“She is stable now,” Gallagher said Monday afternoon. But the eagle is not out of the woods.

A veterinarian will assess the wing Tuesday.

“There’s definitely damage to the right wing at the wrist. We really don’t know the extent of it, or the extent of her (other) injuries without some X-rays and a better exam,” Gallagher explained.

The environmental staff, she noted, didn’t want to complete an invasive exam on Sunday or Monday when the bald eagle was recovering from dehydration and lack of food.

Gallagher commented on the odds of the day’s events.

“Who finds an injured eagle — and is a wildlife rehabilitator at the same time?,” she said.