Fellow Mortals--Compassion Changes Everything

On a Thursday morning we got a call about a Great Horned Owl sitting in a tree on a walking path; the owl was obviously distressed and its wing appeared to be fractured.

Unfortunately, as the owl was about 15 feet up a tree beside a river, our options for retrieving it and bringing the bird into care were very limited. We called the conservation warden for the region to see if he might be available to check out the situation, as we were an hour away. We gave the caller advice to have a laundry basket ready so that if the owl came down they could cover her to keep her from leaving the area while we worked out transport.

When the owl was still in the same place two hours later--we were starting to get worried, and considered trying putting a ladder up to her, but were concerned she would jump and cause further injury to herself, or that we would just force her to climb higher in the tree. Thankfully our warden called to say he could head to the site--and just after we heard from him, we heard from the person watching the owl that she had finally come down, but had run off into the undergrowth, nowhere to be seen.

The original caller, her husband and a neighbor were about to give up looking for the owl when they saw her floating on a log in the river! The caller's husband donned waders and a fishing net and, with advice from our rehabilitator, went out to try and get the owl to shore. Unfortunately, she again evaded capture and could not be found.

While the owl continued to travel down the river on her log, the warden was driving to the location with three colleagues, arriving just before the sun went down. Using a canoe, they were able to locate the owl who, realizing she was cornered, made one last attempt at freedom--jumping into the river where the wardens were ready to quickly scoop her into a net.

When she arrived at the hospital in the custody of the wardens, we reached to open the box and the owl leapt out--ready for battle! This is the feistiest owl we have ever met, with such a strong will to survive. We were expecting the worst based on what our wardens had been able to describe of the owl's injury; they have seen some horrible injuries, and they knew the wing did not look 'right.'

It should hardly have been surprising that such an unusual owl would have an unusual injury--the metacarpals (fingers) of the wing were caught behind the humerus (upper "arm" bone).  This would be equivalent to you putting your hand over your shoulder behind your back and bringing it out under your arm pit!  We still have no idea how she accomplished this feat!

We are fortunate to have amazing veterinarians who volunteer their skills, expertise and time to help the wildlife on short notice and this owl was seen the very next morning and our veterinarian was able to untangle the wing bones.

The wing is now in a normal position, but is very stiff as you can imagine, so the owl will spend the winter in a large outdoor habitat where she can gradually work to extend the wing enough for flight.  When that happens, she will move to the big flight to build muscle and strength before release.

We are so grateful to the caring people who originally saw the owl and were so determined to help her, and to our dedicated conservation wardens who support and work with us to help wildlife, and to our talented veterinarians.

And we are also especially thankful to you, our supporters – without your support we would not be here to give this owl and so many more like her the chance to recover and heal.