20240715-Great Horned Owl-1

7/15/2024 -- Flying through the warm night air, a juvenile GHO thought about nothing else than the delicious prey he was about to sink his baby talons into.  He learned his hunting lessons well from his mom and dad, caught his prey and feasted upon it since his keel was an easy three.

To his horror and surprise, when it was time to leave after dinner, he found himself caught in ropes…custom made by those two legged predators called ‘humans’ and labeled a soccer net!  The more he struggled the tighter the ropes became until he could no longer move, let alone fly.  One was around his neck and wing and another bound his feet!  Scared and exhausted through the night, two of those humans came and cut the net around him.  He was terrified as he watched them and had to sit and wait until Soarin’ Hawk rescue came to get those tight ropes off.

Boy, that felt so much better, but now he was placed into a box…and felt himself going somewhere… What’s that about??? The movement stopped and the box opened and he felt hands lifting him out of the box.  A nice lady named Nancy helped him feel better by getting those horrible flat flies out of his feathers, and checking him out.  He then found himself on a wooden perch in a bigger silver box with bars. Somehow it felt safe to be there… at least he felt he could take a nap now after all that scary stuff that happened to him; and it sure was good to be free of the ropes and those nasty flies. 

His mom never told him about any of that!  He heard dinner being served to other birds around him, so when he fell asleep, he dreamt of a nice juicy mouse ……  and flying free again.

Rescue Team - Jeanine