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WESTMINSTER, Colo. (KDVR) — According to park rangers, the cottonwood tree housing a bald eagle’s nest split down the middle killing an eaglet after it fell from the tree.

Rangers said there were not high winds at the time but the tree was old and decayed which could have contributed to the breakage.

“Staff was instructed to take SL1 to the National Eagle Repository. The eaglet will be cremated and buried with a sacred ceremony in a blessed burial site located in Rocky Mountain Arsenal and National Wildlife Refuge. This site was created specifically for eagle burial by Tribal representatives from the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, Oglala Lakota, and Southern Ute,” a Facebook post said on the Standley Lake Regional Park page.