IRONTO, Va. (AP) - A rustling of trees and a chaotic dispersal of about a dozen birds indicated that a great horned owl was back in its natural habitat.
Residents of a home along North Fork Road in Ironto in Montgomery County watched the striking bird emerge from a crate and take off for a nearby tree. The nearly 3 1/2 -pound owl - larger than average great horned owls - was rehabilitated at the Wildlife Rescue Center in Waynesboro and then set loose by Roanoke-based Southwest Virginia Wildlife Rescue. The owl had been hit by a car on Interstate 81 about a month ago.
“We were thrilled when they stopped here and said they wanted to release this owl,” said Kitty Harmon, 68, who lives at the home where the organization released the owl.
Harmon was joined by her husband, Larry Harmon, 72, who took photos of the takeoff into the sunset.
As the owl got settled into a tree, crows and other birds loudly indicated that they didn’t want it there.
“They could be dinner very easily,” said Sabrina Garvin, president of the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center, a state and federally licensed rehabilitation facility.
Garvin, who set the bird loose, said the great horned owl is among the top predators in Virginia. She said the owl will likely remain in one of the trees and roost until nightfall, when it will venture out and hunt with its one good eye, which Garvin said is all it needs because it turns its head for peripheral vision.
The owl - it’s unknown whether it’s a male or female - needed about a month of recovery to get to the stage it was at last Monday.
Gary Greer, a volunteer with the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Rescue, went to fetch the owl near the Ironto rest area on March 18 after a call came to the center about an injured bird.
“When I picked up the box, it just looked at me,” Greer said.
The owl had a lot of eye injuries, turning the big, vibrant yellow eyes to a bright red, making it difficult for the veterinarian to examine them. Garvin said the owl’s body condition was fine, but because the bird couldn’t see and therefore hunt, it couldn’t be re-introduced to the wild.
For several days, Garvin flitted food into the owl’s mouth to keep it from starving. On March 24, it was transferred to the Wildlife Rescue Center, a 5,700-square-foot facility that has treated more than 65,000 wild animals since 1982.
Garvin said that while the owl was there, its eyes were not clearing up, decreasing its chances for survival.
“Sometimes we’re here to make a choice: we want to give them a release, but we also don’t want them to suffer,” Garvin said.
Luckily, after a few days, the owl’s eyes started to clear up. In the facility’s aviary, it demonstrated its stamina and ability to hunt again, making it suitable for the wild.
When it was time to start considering where to set the owl loose, Greer drove around the area near the rest stop because he said it should be set loose where it was found.
“I saw this well-taken-care-of yard, and this lovely house,” Greer said of the Harmons’ house.
The Harmons are used to various animals - bears, coyotes, foxes and river otters - in their spacious property.
Last year, Garvin said, the Southwest Virginia Wildlife Center took in more than 700 mammals, ranging from mostly birds to small animals such as opossums and woodchucks. She said the center is usually able to return 60 percent to 70 percent of injured animals back to nature.
Garvin said her organization relies a lot on the public, from people pulling over their cars if they think they’ve hit an animal to offering up their property to free animals.
“It takes a lot of teamwork to get this done,” Garvin said.
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Information from: The Roanoke Times, https://www.roanoke.com
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