The eye of Electra

Doctors at Glasgow veterinary college have performed the first-ever cataract operation on a golden eagle.

Electra, the golden eagle, was being chased by a gang of crows when she flew into power cables and burned her wings. She was taken to a sanctuary to recover and it was there that the owner realised that she couldn't see. Naturally that's a bit of a problem for an eagle and would have meant her being put down, but when it was discovered that she had cataracts the college agreed to try the risky operation on her.

They removed one cataract successfully but the other eye was too badly damaged and they didn't want to cause her undue trauma.

She'll never be released into the wild as, with one eye, she couldn't survive, but she's being kept in the sanctuary in Mull. Happily they also have a male golden eagle there and there are hopes that the two might breed, if as the BBC reported last night, 'he catches her eye'.