Follow up on this story from earlier
From Raven Ridge Wildlife Center
In early May, we admitted a Great Horned Owl who had found herself in a perilous situation, trapped in a manure pit. Her rescue involved the collective effort of many compassionate individuals. Once she was freed from the pit, the farmer gently placed her on the ground and promptly contacted the Pennsylvania Game Commission. They reached out to one of our dedicated transporters, who bravely undertook the hour-and-a-half journey, overcoming the strong odor of manure, to bring her to our facility.
Upon arrival, our team donned isolation gowns, safety glasses, and masks, prepared for the challenging task ahead. It's worth noting that Great Horned Owls understandably do not enjoy warm baths. After multiple rounds of careful washing and rinsing, she was finally allowed to rest in a warm incubator to begin her recovery.
Her rehabilitation journey was extensive, requiring time to heal from trauma, receive necessary antibiotics, and restore her feathers to their natural, pristine condition. To ensure her was fully prepared for life in the wild, she underwent thorough flight conditioning. However, the process was delayed by storms and severe flooding, as we wanted to guarantee several days of clear weather for her release.
Finally, we made the hour-and-a-half drive back to her home. As a seasoned adult, she was well-acquainted with her territory and surroundings, demonstrating a remarkable sense of familiarity. It was heartening to witness her reclaiming her rightful place in the wild. With unwavering dedication from our team, she was released back into the freedom she deserves, where she can thrive once again.
Always love a follow up especially when it's good news. Despite a shitty start it's a clean finish!
Me too! It's nice seeing all the hard work pay off.
I was a little sad to see my Broadwing Hawk got moved to the flight pens. It's the first raptor I got to help with, and it has a really nice personality. I'm thrilled it will get to go free of course, but I'm really going to miss it too.
The owls are still my favs to admire, but they are pretty surly. The hawks seem much more inquisitive about me being there and seem almost as interested in me as I am of them, which is better than most of the animals' reactions! 😄
Hey, the owls will forgive you cheating on them with the hawks. XD
Besides, rescuers and zookeepers absolutely have their favourites so no one can blame you for preferences. And it's always great when you can bond with them. Makes it feel better.
Seeing how unique the personalities are with all these little beasties has got to be one of my favorite parts of befriending them. There's cute cute animals, grumpy cute animals, cute homely animals, and so on.
It's too easy to see a bird as a bird or a squirrel as a squirrel, but their minds are built off their individual life experiences like ours are. Their emotions and reasoning are probably based around different foundations, but each one is a bit unique, just like all of us. We're just fancy monkeys after all. 😁