PALM SHORES, Fla. – An osprey found badly burned on a Blue Origin launch pad one day after a rocket explosion is continuing its recovery at the Florida Wildlife Hospital.
The Blue Origin rocket exploded during a May test at Cape Canaveral. According to staff at the Florida Wildlife Hospital, a biologist discovered the injured bird on that same launch pad the next day and brought it in for care.
Almost two months later, the osprey still requires hands-on care, including being fed fish by hand three times each day.
Veterinarians said the bird’s head, neck and wings had singed feathers, and one foot had a deep wound that extended all the way to the bone.
“He may have been on the outskirts of the explosion and could have gotten burned that way, but we also see wounds like this pretty commonly with animals that are electrocuted,” staff veterinarian Dr. April Geer said. “We’re really not sure.”
Geer and the hospital team have been treating the osprey with regular bandage changes, medication and laser therapy. They also removed damaged feathers from one wing to give new feathers a chance to grow in properly.
Geer said the wound is now roughly 90% healed, but the bird cannot return to the wild until its feathers grow back and it is able to fly safely again.
Officials may never know exactly what caused the osprey’s injuries. Still, the timing and location of its discovery have revived concerns among some Brevard County residents about the increasing pace of launches along the Space Coast.
“I always think about that every time a launch goes up, because it is a very wild area out there – a beautiful wild area where a lot of animals live, a lot of threatened species and endangered species,” Florida Wildlife Hospital Executive Director Tracy Frampton said. “So it does worry me.”
Mark Nathan has spent years participating in local conservation projects, including bird counts. He said he supports the space program but worries about the environmental effects of launches happening several times a week.
“I don’t think it’s good for us, the wildlife, plant life or anything,” Nathan said. “I’m concerned about the fallout – what’s coming out of those engines.”
Nathan is not claiming the explosion caused the osprey’s injuries. He said people living alongside the growing space industry should have a voice in how far it expands.
“We didn’t sign up for this,” Nathan said. “We’ve been living here most of our lives, and now all of a sudden, it just kind of was put on us.”
Florida Wildlife Hospital staff expect the osprey to recover and eventually fly again.
But as more rockets lift off from the Space Coast, questions remain about how to balance the space industry with the wildlife living beneath it.
