Fellow Mortals--Compassion Changes Everything

Just one week ago, I got a frantic message from a man named 'Eric,' who had found an owl on the side of the road.  Eric's message said, "the owl is injured and breathing heavily--I'm afraid I will hurt it even more trying to do anything!"

I called him back and asked if he could cover the bird with a box so that it didn't fly or walk away before we could help.

This might sound strange, since how coud an injured owl leave?  But wild creatures will do anything they can to avoid being caught if they are injured.  They do not know that many people are compassionate and cannot tell that our intentions are kind when we approach.  If they are well, no human will ever be able to get near them--let alone touch them.

In this case, the owl was badly injured--unable to stand and bleeding from the mouth, so I was able to explain exactly how to contain the owl for transport.

Never attempt to pick up an owl or hawk or any wild creature without being instructed how to do it safely for you and the wild animal.  In the case of owls, their natural defense is their talons--the nails on their feet that they use to catch prey.  The feet are strong--the nails are sharp.

Once Eric had the owl contained, he called to say he thought it probably needed to be euthanized because it was so badly injured.  I told him to "bring it in right away--this is what we do."

When we examined the owl, we found it was a healthy female weiging four pounds--that's alot for a great-horned owl.  The feet were big and all indications are that it is a female.  Eric had found her on the side of the road and, because she was otherwise in great shape, we can only guess that she had bit hit by a vehicle. 

The owl was bleeding from the mouth and had an abrasion on one eye, but her most critical injury was head trauma that made it impossible for her to stand.  We treated her for the trauma and injury to the eye.

One week later, she has come from a bird that was on death's door and unable to feed herself or stand to a fierce beauty that doesn't want to be in our care.  With the rate she is progressing, we hope to release her in time to raise her young in the wild.

I sent Eric a picture to show him the owl's progress and he responded, "I guess I was a little panicked.  Thank you for helping me figure out how to help."

We are so happy we could help and we love what we do, but we wouldn't even get the chance if people like Eric and people like you didn't care enough to make sure we are here when we are needed.

We've attached a picture of Eric's owl, as well as some valentine 'stickers' for you.

This Valentine's Day, we want to thank you for Opening your heart to Wildlife!

Yvonne