The Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma’s Grey Snow Eagle House opened in January 2006 utilizing funds provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services and the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma. The Grey Snow Eagle House operates under several U.S. Fish and Wildlife permits which allows the facility to successfully conduct four distinct programs: Rehabilitation, Native American Religious Use (Long-term care of eagles), Education, and Research. The Grey Snow Eagle House is the only facility in the country that possesses this combination of permits.
Each of our programs ensures that the facility is actively involved in eagle conservation:
- The Rehabilitation program allows us to bring in injured Oklahoma bald and golden eagles and work with veterinarian, Dr. Paul Welch, to release them back into the wild.
- Under the Religious Use program homes are provided to bald and golden eagles from around the country that are non-releasable. These birds have injuries that do not allow for release back into the wild, but still have quality of life. Our program gives them a place where they can live out their life in peace. It also allows for naturally molted feathers to be distributed out to Iowa Tribal members.
- In our Education program, our education team and ambassador birds travel around the state to teach the public about the conservation of eagles, raptors, and Native American beliefs. We also offer onsite tours of our facility.
- In our Research program, we have an active partnership with Oklahoma State University to develop genetically based conservation tools for bald and golden eagles. This research includes detailed population genetics and genomics analyses conducted on eagles found throughout their North American range so that new information can be discovered and used to aid in management decisions.
As of October 2024, the eagle aviary has successfully released 51 eagles back into the wild. These had various eagle injuries that were caused by gun shots, broken bones, or soft tissue injuries. Our eagle aviary currently consists of 6 large cages built to accommodate the needs of eagles, an ICU room, quarantine cages, education cages, and feeder animal operations.