Chris Tippett was paddleboarding on a lake in northern New South Wales when he noticed a large white-bellied sea eagle that appeared to be struggling.
"It just jumped out of the tree and into the water and started flapping around; straight away, I knew it was in trouble," Mr Tippett said.
"It looked like it had previously had fishing line, or a net wrapped around its wing."
Mr Tippett said he tried to get wildlife services to come and help the bird at Wallis Lake at Forster.
But he said many didn't have any volunteers available to assist.
He put a post on a social media page in a bid to secure people to rescue the large raptor from an island that could be accessed by boat.
"I've rescued smaller birds, even pelicans, but this was a large raptor and I had no idea how to approach it," Mr Tippett said.
He connected with several other wildlife lovers from across the region, including a man from north of Gloucester who offered the use of his tinny to rescue the eagle.
Mr Tippett said they met at the lake and set out on the boat to rescue the bird.
"We very gently surrounded it and it jumped into the water again, we had a cage ready and took it straight up to it in the water and very gently encouraged it into the cage, it couldn't have gone any better really," he said.
"I'm just over the moon, when do you ever get to rescue a fully grown white-bellied sea eagle? I'm just stoked."
Sad outcome but 'faith restored'
Unfortunately, the group's happiness was relatively short-lived.
The bird was taken to Forster veterinary organisation Sweet Pea Animal Rescue, where it was examined.
Practice manager Samantha Blake said the eagle had a significant injury around its right wing and needed to be taken to Taronga Zoo's Sydney wildlife hospital for further care.
Staff at Taronga examined the bird before a decision was made the euthanase it.
"The soft tissue was compromised to the point it was not viable, it's a really sad outcome," Ms Blake said.
She said despite the upsetting result, the rescue had bolstered her belief in people.
"Chris did all this work and didn't give up and took so much effort over days to try and save this bird, and managed to find someone with a boat who he didn't even know previously," she said.
"It restores your faith in people, when you see how much effort they have made."
She said the bird would have suffered a protracted, horrible death if it had been left in the wild.
"It's now been peacefully euthanased, so that's a positive aspect to it as well," she said.
Carer shortage
Ms Blake said the rescue had also highlighted a need for more trained wildlife rescue volunteers.
"Our local wildlife rescue organisation is FAWNA and I know they don't have nearly enough volunteers and they also cover quite a large area as well," she said.
"Often we have wildlife here and there's just no-one available to come and get it straight away."
She said there was a rescue service for domesticated animals but wildlife had to go through a registered wildlife group.
"The [trained wildlife] carers they have are fantastic, but there's just not enough," she said.