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VALDOSTA, Ga. (AP) — Officials say a bald eagle is recovering after a motorist in Georgia spotted the injured bird in a roadside ditch and called authorities for help.

News outlets report Lowndes County dispatched an animal control officer and a licensed animal trapper to the scene where the eagle was found this month along Highway 376 near the Florida line. They watched over it until a Georgia Department of Natural Resources officer arrived to take it to a veterinarian.

Jeff Atkinson of Lowndes County Animal Services praised the motorist for “doing his civic duty” and reporting the injured eagle to authorities.

The eagle was taken to the raptor center at Auburn University for further rehabilitation.

Bald eagles are no longer a federally endangered species. They remain state-listed as threatened in Georgia.