Here at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary, we are always ready to assist other wildlife rescuers who need our specialist skills, facilities and expertise to care for wild raptors. We recently received a call from Wildlife Rescue Service, who had a Tawny Owl in need of help.
The unfortunately Owl was found entangled in a discarded kite string high up in some trees on the grounds of St Elizabeth’s School. It was hanging by one wing and was clearly exhausted by the time the rescue team arrived. Jo and Phil had to quickly come up with a plan on how to reach and extract the Owl. Using a long cutting pole, they were able to cut the string from the trees, then carefully lower the owl to the ground via one of the branches, as the string was tightly wound around the Owls feet as well.
Lizzy was transported to us the next day and was immediately taken for an X-ray due to the droopy wing. Fortunately, no breaks were detected, so she was given pain relief for the soft tissue damage and placed in one of our smaller indoor cages for observations.
The team reported that she was very reluctant to eat, and had to assist feed twice daily to ensure that she didn’t lose condition. We hoped that moving Lizzy to an outdoor aviary after a few days may give her some confidence, as many birds find being indoors stressful. Whilst Lizzy showed that she was able to fly for short distances and reach some of the higher perches, she was still not able to feed herself, so has been brought back indoors so that we can more closely monitor her.
Update - following a check from our Avian Specialist Consultant Vet, Dr Elliott Simpson-Brown MRCVS has suggested that Lizzy just needs more time to recover from her ordeal, so for now she is recuperating under observation in our quiet area.