These are some the owls of the graduating class of 2013. There were some in and outs whooo did not get photographed.
The best case was an adult male named "Charger" as a result of being tangled in an electric wire and hanging upside down for an unknown length of time. He was suspended upside down so his head was touching the wet ground. His left leg was wrapped in the silver electric wire preventing him from escaping. When the property owner found Charger he immediately disconnected the electrical current and cut the poor guy out of the wire. He was in rough shape after having low voltage electrical current flowing through the wire on is leg and into his body, exiting trough his head that was in contact with the wet ground.
When we got him he was unable to stand as his leg was immovable in an extended position. Both eyes were fully dilated in the sunlight. He acted like 1/2 of him was a stuffed owl and the other 1/2 might be real. Never have seen anything like this.
Set up consultation with Dr. Gardner, DVM, who was fortunately in the area, and got her assessment. once again- never have seen anything like this. After exams and conferences and calls we decided to take it slow and see if he can regain anything.
Hand fed him on day 2 and 3. By day 7 he was wobbly but was standing. By day 20 he was standing and eating on his own, if you dropped the mice on his feet. The biggest concern was his vision. Day 87 we noticed the pupils dilating and contracting in regular light. Finally on day 122 he was blinking and eyes were reacting perfectly normal" How did I get here?".
With his success recovery and the juveniles sort of reaching maturity( this difficult to determine in Great Horned Owls because of their "offbeat behavior") it was time for graduation day. Tom and AJ found a perfect location and toted 4 boxes( 1 owl in each) to freedom. The release was in late afternoon so the graduates could be observed and rescued if necessary. All did very well.
The following photos are from the release.
The best case was an adult male named "Charger" as a result of being tangled in an electric wire and hanging upside down for an unknown length of time. He was suspended upside down so his head was touching the wet ground. His left leg was wrapped in the silver electric wire preventing him from escaping. When the property owner found Charger he immediately disconnected the electrical current and cut the poor guy out of the wire. He was in rough shape after having low voltage electrical current flowing through the wire on is leg and into his body, exiting trough his head that was in contact with the wet ground.
When we got him he was unable to stand as his leg was immovable in an extended position. Both eyes were fully dilated in the sunlight. He acted like 1/2 of him was a stuffed owl and the other 1/2 might be real. Never have seen anything like this.
Set up consultation with Dr. Gardner, DVM, who was fortunately in the area, and got her assessment. once again- never have seen anything like this. After exams and conferences and calls we decided to take it slow and see if he can regain anything.
Hand fed him on day 2 and 3. By day 7 he was wobbly but was standing. By day 20 he was standing and eating on his own, if you dropped the mice on his feet. The biggest concern was his vision. Day 87 we noticed the pupils dilating and contracting in regular light. Finally on day 122 he was blinking and eyes were reacting perfectly normal" How did I get here?".
With his success recovery and the juveniles sort of reaching maturity( this difficult to determine in Great Horned Owls because of their "offbeat behavior") it was time for graduation day. Tom and AJ found a perfect location and toted 4 boxes( 1 owl in each) to freedom. The release was in late afternoon so the graduates could be observed and rescued if necessary. All did very well.
The following photos are from the release.
Pretty cool pictures. They did good( the grads and the photographers).
This Redtail is inside one of the sections of the new flight pen. Love the vinyl coated fence on top, some one was actually going to throw it away! This gal is not happy with people taking pictures through the slats. She recovered nicely and is free too.
This young Barn Owl was one of three that came in this year. Notice his happy response to having his picture made in the sunlight. All three were raised and released into one of the Barnie areas here in Pike County.
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