this post was submitted on 08 May 2024
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For owls that are superb.

US Wild Animal Rescue Database: Animal Help Now

International Wildlife Rescues: RescueShelter.com

Australia Rescue Help: WIRES

Germany-Austria-Switzerland-Italy Wild Bird Rescue: wildvogelhilfe.org

If you find an injured owl:

Note your exact location so the owl can be released back where it came from. Contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitation specialist to get correct advice and immediate assistance.

Minimize stress for the owl. If you can catch it, toss a towel or sweater over it and get it in a cardboard box or pet carrier. It should have room to be comfortable but not so much it can panic and injure itself. If you can’t catch it, keep people and animals away until help can come.

Do not give food or water! If you feed them the wrong thing or give them water improperly, you can accidentally kill them. It can also cause problems if they require anesthesia once help arrives, complicating procedures and costing valuable time.

If it is a baby owl, and it looks safe and uninjured, leave it be. Time on the ground is part of their growing up. They can fly to some extent and climb trees. If animals or people are nearby, put it up on a branch so it’s safe. If it’s injured, follow the above advice.

For more detailed help, see the OwlPages Rescue page.

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From Middle Tennessee Raptor Center

I'm behind on this post but better late than never.

On April 25th this sweet little screech owl was brought to us after being hit by a car. All I have got to say is this is one tough cookie!

Screech owls are not very hearty birds of prey. Their size does not work in their favor when it comes to car strikes. This one got very lucky.

On the night he arrived I did not expect him to make it through us giving him fluids and pain medications. His eye was swollen shut and at that point we didn't even know if he still had one there. He could not stand and had to be propped up with towels so he didn't fall over.

For several days he just held his head down and was so pitiful. We just kept giving him time, anti-inflammatories, and offering little bits of food. I came to check on him one morning and he was standing up.

He is continuing to heal and was just upgraded to a larger enclosure. He has no residual effects from his head trauma and he will be able to be released back to the wild soon.

The main photo is from the day of the post, after the recovery.

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[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

This is the little guy's intake pic.

"I can do this all day." - Screech Rogers, aka Captain Owl-merica

[–] JetpackJackson@feddit.de 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Wow, he really is a tough cookie! I'm glad he's healing up well.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

He is!

So many injuries that don't seem that bad if they would happen to us can be fatal to an owl due to their compromises in anatomy. I avoid a good number of recovery stories due to this, since the outcome can turn for the worse so quickly. This little dude really beat the odds though!

[–] JetpackJackson@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That makes sense. Reminds me of that one scene in one of the star trek reboots where Spock gets injured but because of Vulcan anatomy, it's more serious than one would expect lol.

For some reason I've never really thought about how the severity of injuries would change for owls but they are a totally different animal so I definitely understand now how that would affect them.

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Small owls like this one can have eyes that take up almost half of the volume of the skull, and they don't have nice dense bones or any padding most places because they traded all that for flight. That leaves birds, and owls in particular, very susceptible to injury.

This is why small birds can mob the predators without much fear of being attacked back. It is just too easy to get injured as a bird, and any needless fight can blind them, leave them unable to fly, or leave them too low on calories to have the energy to hunt their next meal.

[–] JetpackJackson@feddit.de 2 points 1 year ago

Oh gotcha, that makes sense. Thanks!

[–] Sizzler@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Oh he is tiny! Well done you lot!

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

He is!

A Screech Owl is about 1.5x the height of a 12 oz / 355 mL can of soda, and weighs half as much. Truly delicate!

[–] Ashyr@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

He does!

Looking like a tree is one of an owl's special abilities. Especially one that is small enough to still be a potential snack for someone else! So the more Ent-ish, the better.

[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Where I come from, Screech is an alcoholic "drink", but I wish it was also owls

[–] anon6789@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

When I search it, I see a brand a rum, a term referring to cheap booze in general, some type of mixed drink, and a tradition involving a poem and kissing a dead fish... 😬

All seem to be Newfoundland related things though.

Owls do sound better than most, if not all, of these things.