Why Dollywood's Bald Eagles Are Moving to a New Home
For 35 years, Dollywood guests could walk into Eagle Mountain Sanctuary and stand face to face with bald eagles that could never be released into the wild. That's changing — and the reason starts with a storm.
In April, severe weather damaged the Eagle Mountain Sanctuary at Dollywood. Three bald eagles escaped in the chaos. One — Caesar — was recovered about two weeks later. The other two, named Rockland and Wesley, remain unaccounted for as of this announcement.
With the sanctuary damaged and the birds temporarily relocated to the American Eagle Foundation's 50-acre campus in Kodak, Tennessee — just a short drive from Dollywood — both organizations sat down and made a decision. The birds aren't coming back. Kodak is home now.
"Eagle Mountain Sanctuary has played an extraordinary role in our history and in helping generations of people understand and appreciate these magnificent birds," said American Eagle Foundation CEO Lori Moore. "As we look to the future, our Kodak campus gives us an exciting opportunity to build upon that legacy, expand our conservation and educational work, and provide an outstanding permanent home for the bald eagles in our care."
"We are tremendously grateful for Dollywood's partnership over the past 35 years and are excited about what we can continue to accomplish together," she added.
Dollywood president Eugene Naughton called the 35-year partnership something the park is "incredibly proud of" and said the mission continues.
What Changes — and What Doesn't
The bald eagles living permanently at Dollywood are gone. But the education isn't.
The American Eagle Foundation will maintain a presence at Dollywood through the Birds of Prey program at the Wings of America Theater — a live show where guests can see bald eagles and other raptors up close and learn about their role in the ecosystem. The partnership itself continues. It just looks different now.
The Kodak campus, which opened in 2023, gives the American Eagle Foundation significantly more space to consolidate its eagle care, conservation research, and educational programs under one roof. What was a split operation — birds at Dollywood, headquarters in Kodak — becomes a unified campus with room to grow.
Why These Eagles Can't Be Released
The bald eagles housed at Eagle Mountain Sanctuary were described as "non-releasable" — a term worth understanding. These birds came to the American Eagle Foundation with injuries or conditions that permanently prevent them from surviving in the wild. A permanently injured wing. A vision problem. Imprinting on humans that happened before the bird could develop normal wild behaviors. Whatever the reason, releasing them would be a death sentence.
For birds like this, a wildlife sanctuary isn't just a tourist attraction — it's the only option. The sanctuary provides permanent care and gives the animals a purpose: educating the millions of people who see them every year about why bald eagles matter, what threatened them in the first place, and what it took to bring them back.
The Bald Eagle's Comeback Story
The bald eagle's recovery is one of conservation's genuine success stories — and it's worth telling in the context of this partnership wrapping its first chapter.
In 1963 the bald eagle population in the continental United States had collapsed to just 417 nesting pairs — a catastrophic decline driven by DDT, hunting, and habitat destruction. DDT in particular thinned eagle eggshells to the point where eggs crushed under incubating adults before they could hatch. The species was on a path to extinction.
DDT was banned in 1972. The Endangered Species Act passed in 1973. Recovery programs began. By the time the American Eagle Foundation and Dollywood started their partnership in 1991, the population was climbing but still fragile. By 2007 the bald eagle was removed from the endangered species list entirely. Today there are an estimated 300,000 to 350,000 bald eagles in North America.
That turnaround happened because of exactly the kind of conservation, education, and public awareness work that partnerships like this one exist to support.
Rockland and Wesley are still out there somewhere in Tennessee. Anyone who spots a bald eagle in unusual circumstances near the Dollywood area is encouraged to contact the American Eagle Foundation.
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