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I went inside the owl cage to give my recuperating Barred Owl his chicken thigh dinner and he startled me by suddenly flying from one side of the cage to the other right over my shoulder. The cage (kennel) was 6’x10’ about 6’ tall so a large owl with a three-foot wing span, sharp talons and a flesh-tearing beak flying over your shoulder is what I call highly stimulating. This was the first time he flew since I had rescued him from the highway several weeks earlier.
I found him on a dark rainy night sitting on the center stripe of a highway. He was in shock and had a large wound on his wing where he had apparently been hit by a car. He was in a daze, seemingly unaware of the vehicles barely missing him at 50 mph.
I did not have my animal rescue tools with me and the thought of picking up a wild raptor capable of removing a finger was cause for hesitation. I removed my coat and used it to capture him, figuring I’d rather be cold than risk losing a digit.
Once I had him loaded in the backseat it was hard to concentrate on the dark winding mountain road trying not to think about what could happen if a kidnapped owl got out of my coat and decided to fly inside my vehicle.
Since I was no longer wearing a coat I was particularly vulnerable to his 3/4” talons which I knew were capable of exerting hundreds of pounds of pressure per square inch. Every time I heard a rustle from the back seat I envisioned him attacking my ears with his powerful beak for a midnight snack.
This is a good point to mention you can go to jail and/or be fined if caught in the possession of an owl or migratory bird. Federal laws protect them and even helping one requires a licensed bird rehabilitator. Rather than use an assumed name and secret hideaway to help my feathered friend I reported the rescue and got the required authorization and supervision to proceed.
I made it home without incident and treated his wounds, keeping his head coverred as I administerred injections, carefully avoiding the talons that kept grasping at his unseen benefactor.
He had no visible broken bones but was pretty much comatose. Swelling around the brain can cause everything from temporary blindness to shock and disorientation. Steroids given the first few days are very effective in reducing swelling and can have miraculous results restoring functions.
I was instructed to force feed him the first few days until he came out of his stupor. Force feeding an owl is also highly stimulating. You grasp his upper beak with your fingers and lift, tilting his head back until he opens his mouth. Next you manuever a piece of raw chicken about the size of a finger into his mouth, pulling out your finger before reflex action causes him to snap shut his razor sharp beak. Since both top and bottom bill are pointed to facilitate tearing flesh there is not a lot of room for error.
By the third day he regained enough of his senses to take food out of my hand voluntarily. This is not to say he was tame. An animal in shock can appear quite calm, giving the illusion he is tame but this can change at any second.
After three weeks he had recovered from the concussion and all I had to do was leave a couple chicken thighs in the cage each night. He would eat everything to the bare bone (talk about a sharp and powerful beak).
The first attempt to release him was unsuccessful. He was only able to fly a few yards to the ground so I returned him to the kennel to recuperate further and build up strength in his injured wing.
In rehabilitation class they instruct you that the animals will tell you when they are ready to go. Seeing him fly around his cage buzzing my ears after staying immobile for almost four weeks was a pretty clear message Mr. Owl was ready.
The trick was to capture a now fully healthy owl without getting either of us hurt. It would be terrible to injure him if he panicked in the confines of the cage. This time I was protected with kevlar gloves and heavy leather arm guards although my ears were exposed yet again. As I entered the kennel and closed the door behind me I started thinking about ear snacks again. I covered his head with a towel which caused him to remain fairly still and I was able to pick him up, pinning his wings from behind to avoid talons and beak, either of which could cause significant injury. Owls can hiss, snap their beak and make a very loud clicking sound when threatened which I can say from personal experience is most intimidating.
As if the sound effects were not enough they can turn their head 180 degrees, which causes two additional problems. You cannot tell the front from back with a towel over their head, and when you take the towel off they can turn their head around behind them and snap at your hands. It takes a lot of confidence in your training to not panic when they pull this exorcist routine on you.
I successfully carried my patient out of the cage and uncovered him. He hopped from my gloved hand to my leather-sleeved arm. He calmly looked me over one last time, making direct eye contact as if to say, “What now?” I began to fear he was sizing up my ears again. Looking into his magnificent eyes I was reminded owls have incredible night vision. A person with comparable sight could read a newspaper by candlelight from the opposite end of a football stadium.
He flew to the ground and I began to wonder if this would be a repeat of the last release attempt. He sat there for a few minutes watching me and then flew away into the late afternoon sky. Owls fly silently, no wing flutter like other birds due to very soft downy feathers. It is an eerie sight to see such a large bird fly silently.
I felt really fulfilled and as I walked into the house and I felt my ears noticeably relax.
How you can help: The Witter Wildlife Refuge rescues and rehabilitates injured and orphaned wildlife. It is funded entirely by donations, which are greatly appreciated and should be made out to Witter Wildlife Refuge at P.O. Box 1118, Huntsville, Ark. 72740. Visit our website at: witterwildliferefuge.com
For wildlife emergencies: You can locate a wildlife rehabilitator in your area on the Internet.