QUOGUE, NY — Since July 16, exactly two weeks ago, when Sam, a one-winged bald eagle was ruthlessly stolen from his enclosure in the dark of night at the Quogue Wildlife Refuge, there isn’t an hour of any day that I haven’t thought of him.

And I’m not alone.

The eagle, who was shot in 1998, has a partially amputated right wing, and was brought 30 years ago to the Refuge, where caring hearts nurtured the broken bird and healed his soul and spirit with endless attention and love. Staffers took a mighty bird felled by the darkness of mankind and reminded all who walked through the doors of the Refuge that sometimes, the good guys do win, with gentle patience and love.

Until now.

Until that unbelievably cruel, dark night when, according to security footage, a man stole into the Refuge, cut through Sam’s enclosure, and carried him out in some type of bag.

There hasn’t been a word about his whereabouts since.

Near and far, hearts are broken. We humans are left speechless. What kind of person, we ask, would do that to an injured bird, so defenseless, unable to fly or protect himself?

“He has to be so scared and confused,” one woman wrote on social media. It’s a thought that echoes in so many hearts and minds.

In the work that I do, I write stories about unspeakable acts literally every single day. Horrific stories of the most vile crimes committed by men and women against one another, against children, against the elderly. Stories that sometimes leave me aghast and so often, leave me in tears.

Why does Sam’s story, then, stay with me when I’m trying to sleep? Why is it his face that haunts?

I think it’s the thought of how frightened he must have been, when they ripped him out of the only home he’s known for 30 years, unable to fly or cry or find someone to protect him.

That number of years alone is staggering. My son, 26, who used to visit Sammy when I brought him and the rest of my Cub Scout den to the Refuge, was devastated to learn that he’d been stolen. “Mom,” he said, “Sam has been there longer than I’ve been alive.”

Maybe it’s the handwritten notes children have tied to Sam’s cage, begging whoever has taken him to bring him home safely. “Please come home,” they write.

Yes, Sammy. Please come home.

Maybe it’s the fact that a bald eagle — the proud symbol that has long stood an emblem of America, strong and brave, independent and eternally beautiful — has been brutally assaulted, forced to cower in fear.

Maybe it’s the insidious dark thoughts that sit heavy in my mind, about the black market for eagle feathers and the possibilities too awful to consider.

Maybe it’s the loss of innocence, the anger now festering in hearts shaped by kindness, in the men and women at the Refuge who spend their days caring for the sick, the broken, the frightened — and who now have seen their basic trust in mankind sullied. Those same men and women who now have to find funding to build more sturdy enclosures, who have to beef up security to keep their fragile charges safe, not from the elements or other wildlife, but from mankind. Our own worst enemy.

Or maybe it’s just that Sam symbolizes all we’ve lost in a world crippled by crime and hatred and anger. The loss of all that is pure and good about the East End, a place where neighbors help neighbors and come together in force when a friend needs a hand. A place where injured creatures can lie safe in their enclosures at night, knowing that the good guys are there to defend them.

Maybe the only thing we can hope is that Sammy’s plight renews the resolve in all of us to unite in kindness and compassion, to be the nurturers, the healers, the caretakers of the broken and afraid.

Maybe the only thing we can pray is that somewhere, somehow, someone knows where Sammy is, and will come forward to do the right thing. The only thing that can dry this sea of tears for a bald eagle that has touched hearts near and far.

Maybe someone will read this and please, please, bring Sam home safely.

The reward for information leading to the arrest of whoever stole Sam now totals $17,500, including $10,000 from the Suffolk County SPCA, up to $2,500 from Crime Stoppers and $5,000 from Nassau County SPCA, said Marisa Nelson, assistant director of the Quogue Wildlife Refuge.

“We are all hoping for the safe return of Sammy,” the Suffolk SPCA said.

Anyone with information about the incident can contact Suffolk County Crime Stoppers to submit an anonymous tip by calling 1-800-220-TIPS, texting “SCPD” and a message to “CRIMES” (274637) or emailing www.tipsubmit.com. All calls, text messages and emails will be kept confidential. Or, you can call the Quogue Village Police Department at 631-653-4791 or Suffolk County SPCA at 631-382-7722.