Over the summer, we received a call from Ben at Spirit of the Wild who had rescued a young Kestrel and needed someone to finish the rehabilitation process. At the time, we had a number of other young Kestrels in our care, so we were able to add this individual to the group, where it quickly learnt how to behave like a Kestrel again.
Keeping Ben updated about it’s progress, he asked if he could come and see the Kestrels released, so we arranged a day when the weather was calm to give them their freedom.
However, Ben arrived with another bird in need of our help. A couple of days before the Kestrel release date, this young Little Owl was found in distress. When Ben arrived and assessed him, there were no injuries but he was suffering from exhaustion and dehydration. He was taken back with Ben and placed in a small holding aviary so they could monitor his progress. Ben provided some mice soaked in warm water and cut into bite sized morsels to entice the Little Owl to eat. After a few hours of perseverance, the Little Owl decided it quite liked mouse after all, and once it had some food it became more alert.
Ben was concerned that the Little Owl may have a hidden injury, as wildlife is good at hiding disability to avoid drawing attention to themselves, so asked if we could step in to help.
Since arriving, we have monitored this Little Owl closely and are happy with his progress. Once he’s eating whole food unaided, he’ll be ready to go out to one of our hack sites for release.
UPDATE!
Having made lots of progress in our Hospital aviaries, last week we moved this Little Owl to one of our small hack pens. Abbi, a vet student who was with us for the week did the honours of releasing him into his new temporary home. We will continue to feed him and monitor his progress but hope to open the doors for his release over the next few days!