Owl Rescue

[belleville]

About 5 weeks ago, our shop foreman pulled an owl out of one of our delivery trucks...he/she rode about 75 miles stuck under the hood.
Scared and pissed off with a busted wing, it stayed in a box in the shop overnight. A local-ish animal rescue gave it an X-ray, found out it was worth trying to rehabilitate, (we were told if the wing was broken closer to the body, it would never fly again) and off it went to the Raptor Center in Minneapolis.


They fed, watered, and gave it some pain medication before the trip from Duluth to MPLS. He/she was pretty feisty, tried clawing some faces off, but was not successful.



Turned back into a flying pillow filled with seething hatred.

I believe it's a great horned owl, and while we haven't heard anything since it went to the Center, it is supposed to make a full recovery. 2-3 months and it will be released back into the wild.

Cool experience, I've rarely seen an owl in the wild, let alone be that close to one.

[MAr]

wow! What a gorgeous bird. I was disappointed when I brought a pigeon to the shelter, and they said 'the break is too close to the body, it's lethal injection for this guy' (or however they worded it) I would have kept him in that case... Vet told me that about one of my cats '$1,500.00 surgery on broken leg, or death' (in 1997) Another family friend who was a vet just put a splint on her. She had a limp thereafter, but WASN'T DEAD.

Good on you for making a difference for a gorgeous, but ornery bird!

[chrislognshot]

thank you for saving it.

[AnarchicArctic]

Awesome! Glad it’s got a chance at life. I volunteered at a few rehab centers back in college. Euthanasia rates are affected by the severity/location of the break, as well as the center’s resources/ability to provide extended care. Wildlife center of the blue ridge for example, treated and kept several raptors that would otherwise be put down. We would then travel to schools with these birds for wildlife education. Elliot the great horned owl was every bit of the terror you described until we earned his trust. Then he’d just chill on a post between the seats of the pickup and nuzzle for scritches.

[Rainmaker]

Wow, that is awesome! Gorgeous up close.

[DavidBoren]

Awesome that it should recovet. Good job taking it in to get help.

When I was kid, my neighbors had a few owls-in-a-box... Spotted Owl rescues from a tree that was cut for logging. This waa pretty rare, considering most of the logging industry in Montana hated Spotted Owls (due to them being protected interfering with logging operations, and thus interfering with putting dinner on the table). There were even bumper stickers at the time professing that Spotted Owls taste like chicken. Lol.

Later, on my first deployment, we had a pet Golden Eagle on the patrol base... it had belonged to some Iraqi officer before a healthy dose of freedom happened. The bird's wing was injured (by said healthy dose of freedom), so it couldn't fly. Given that we were from the 101st, we named him Old Abe. Had the 'terps bring him chickens and rabbits... which he would chase down and rip apart with his talons. Ever seen an eagle run down a rabbit? Neither had I, but damn, Old Abe was quick on his feet.

[lew]

Good save! Great horned owls are the coolest. There's one that likes to perch on my roof at night. It's working in conjunction with the coyotes, snakes, and other raptors to keep the rodents and rabbits in check. My daughter's crazy about owls. By far, her favorite animal sound to make.

[KingxSlinky666]

Very cool, we had one around my parents house growing up. Tried to nab our cats a couple of times, we would occasionally come by him on the side of the road at night having a snack, massive wingspan.

Also nothing that angry should have razor feet...

[Cdn_Cuda]

Awesome story. These are amazing birds. Very neat to get close up! My last owl experience was actually on a paintball field. I was flanking a fire base going through the woods and an owl swooped down right in front of me, completely silent of course. Took me a moment to even register what it was, and of course it was gone in a flash. I had a mirrored lens on my mask, so who knows what it saw. Very cool experience.

[oldschool]

So if someone sent their ballot by Owl from Hogwart's it might not be getting there....