Bald eagle trapped in the grille of a car in Florida (Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Facebook)

The bald eagle is a proud and noble creature that the United States chose long ago to be its national symbol. But this particular bald eagle, trapped in the grille of a car in Florida, has become a much more appropriate symbol for America in 2016. Ladies and gentlemen, start your meme engines.




The bald eagle became trapped in a passing car in Clay County, Florida on Saturday, presumably while minding its own business. The look on the bird’s face really says it all. But police and emergency responders were able to extract the unfortunate creature and get it to a wildlife sanctuary, where it’s currently being nursed back to health.


The Clay’s County Sherrif’s Office in Florida posted the photos to Facebook, adding that the bird is now doing just fine:

A citizen had a bald eagle fly in front of his vehicle and the bird became lodged in the grill of the vehicle. Clay County Sheriff’s Office and Clay Fire Rescue personnel responded and rescued the eagle from the grill. The bird is alive and was turned over to the B.E.A.K.S. Wildlife Sanctuary. Great Job by all involved.

The bird will be fine, but we humans still have 85 days left in 2016—objectively a terrible year for the United States when you take a look at the general shittiness of everything everywhere.

First responders helping a bald eagle that was trapped in the grille of a car in Florida (Clay County Sheriff’s Office, Facebook)


Here’s hoping we get our own extraction sometime soon. Just 85 days, people. We can get through this. Hopefully. The year 2017 has to be better. Right?

Correction: This post originally misstated the county in Florida as “Clark County.” It’s Clay County. I regret the error and everything else about this lousy year.