Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Injured Owl? UPDATE


Injured Owl?, originally uploaded by Hannibals Animals.
I got a call from a friend who was concerned about an owl that was in her barn. She thought it must be injured or sick because her kids were doing their chores in and around the animal this morning, without a disturbance from the owl. I drove over and found the same thing as I entered the barn. This guy looked pretty normal without visible signs of injury. His eyes seemed droopy, but then plenty of light flooded the interior of the barn. I approached on my knees very slowly, stopping and checking for signs of stress along the way, until I got to about 5 feet. There were no signs of stress or warnings, i.e. hissing or barking, etc... I checked the barn for feathers and saw 1 tail feather but that was it. I checked both flanks, and as far as I could see, no injuries. I called Flint Creek and am waiting on them to return my call...

UPDATE:  Took the owl to a rescue.  Very lethargic so will call and get updates on its health tomorrow...

UPDATE:  It died of neurological issues around 4:30pm yesterday.  The vet worked on him all day and at 1 point thought there was a chance, but then turned for the worse.  Suspect: West Nile Virus



9 comments:

Debby Schade said...

My guess is poisoning, perhaps lead from prey harboring lead shot. Or from rat poison. The listless affect & non-characteristic behavior are obvious signs that something isn't right! I hope you have a local wildlife rehabilitator who can help this beautiful bird!

Montanagirl said...

Wow, I hope he's okay! LOVE Owls and getting photos of them. I'll be waiting to hear what you find out.

Tami Weingartner said...

Any news on this lovely owl?

Wendy said...

Beautiful photos but also very sad that it didn't make it :(

RLClover said...

Such a gorgeous creature - so sad that it lost it's life.

jenni cursos virtuales said...

Excelent!! Great post!

Chris said...

A pity for this nice bird, but that's just life! Your pictures are wonderful and you gave him a nice bye bye post!

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ingrid (@thewildbeat) said...

Thank you for caring for this owl. I volunteered at a wildlife hospital in California, and I always marveled at how many people cared -- went out of their way at great sacrifice to help the wild animals who came in. I'm so sorry the outcome was unfortunate. But I'm grateful you gave this owl a fighting chance.