BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) - A barred owl has been released back into the wild after a monthlong stay at the Raptor Advocacy Rehabilitation and Education Center, or RARE, in Iowa City.
The large owl was taken to the center on Sept. 21 after Sam Warner of Burlington saw the raptor sitting on the pavement alongside U.S. 61, The Hawk Eye reported (https://bit.ly/2fbHce5 ).
Warner hopped out of his vehicle to snap a picture of the bird, but then saw it was injured and blood was on the pavement near it.
“He looked like he’d had a really bad night,” Warner said.
So, he donned work gloves, put the owl in a box and headed to work, where he called veterinary technician and RARE field team member Michele Nigg. She took the owl to the raptor center, where veterinarians determined it had likely been hit by a car.
The center gave the owl fluids for three days, as well as anti-inflammatory medicine. He was fed once a day.
Raptors, water fowl and song birds the center takes in are admitted to the clinic to determine whether the injuries are life-threatening and if they will be able to be released. Nigg said the birds often come in with fractures, poisoning or exhaustion.
The center has taken in more than 131 raptors and 65 other birds this year. Nigg said about a third of those birds are able to be released. The barred owl was one of them.
On Oct. 22, one of Nigg’s vet tech students took the owl to Starr’s Cave Nature Center in a box and released him.
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Information from: The Hawk Eye, https://www.thehawkeye.com
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