Beauty the bald eagle may not look like the bird you would expect to see when you hear her name. Early in her young life, Beauty was seriously wounded when part of her beak was shot off. She hasn't been able to properly preen her feathers since that time and even something simple like taking a drink of water has proved difficult with the stump she was left with.

That's all about to change with the new artificial beak designed and created especially for her by a team of individuals, including Jane Fink Cantwell, a biologist with the Birds of Prey ranch, a raptor recovery center in Idaho. Cantwell has worked to form a team, including a mechanical engineer, a dentist and a veterinarian, that will attach a nylon-composite beak to Beauty. The beak will hopefully allow her to grip and eat the food fed to her with more ease, as well as drink water. The new beak will allow her to live to see her 50th birthday, though she will never be able to live in the wild again.

Beauty was found in an Alaskan landfill in 2005 as she desperately searched for food. She was missing most of her curved upper beak and her tongue and sinuses had been left exposed, making it impossible for her to cut and tear the flesh from prey. She spent the first two years after her rescue being handfed in Anchorage, but when a new beak failed to grow and her caretakers could no longer afford to care for her and were contemplating euthanizing the young bird, she was transferred to the Idaho ranch for further care.

The beak was designed by a mechanical engineer and will be glued onto Beauty. If the glue doesn't not stick properly, the beak will be screwed in. The idea of using screws was initially vetoed though due to risks from the injury being close to Beauty's eye and brain.

Though Beauty will never live in the wild again, Cantwell is hopefull she'll lead a productive life and be able to breed or act as a mother to orphaned bald eagles, but ultimately that she'll serve as a lesson to others.

"She's a miracle recovery patient from her initial injuries," she said. "She will be a huge educational tool, primarily to instruct people on why we should not shoot raptors and why they are beneficial to the environment."

"Give me an hour with a third or sixth grader and they will never shoot a raptor." Shooting a bald eagle, though they are no longer on the endangered species list, remains a violation of federal law.

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