Injured baby tawny owl.

[Meggj]

We had a baby tawny owl that came in who had been hit by a car. S/he's luckily managed to escape With minimal injuries but has a very bad jaw that has pushed the lower half of her beak to one side. This means s/he has to be fed by hand. But today it has started taking the food which is a huge accomplishment. We all got so excited when the poor thing took the first bit from me.

 

[Jayyj]

You can't get much cuter than a baby owl! What's your plan for it?

 

[Terry57]

What a precious owl! I am so happy that she is eating now. What is her prognosis?

 

[Allee]

Look at her, she's darling! I'm so glad someone brought her in. I hope she fully recovers.

 

[Christinenc2000]

WOW I just want to hug her

 

[Shoegoo]

Your local/state wildlife authority should be contacted so they can help reinsert the bird into the wild. They know best what to do.

 

[Scott]

We had a baby tawny owl that came in who had been hit by a car. S/he's luckily managed to escape With minimal injuries but has a very bad jaw that has pushed the lower half of her beak to one side. This means s/he has to be fed by hand. But today it has started taking the food which is a huge accomplishment. We all got so excited when the poor thing took the first bit from me.

What a beautiful owl! I see you work at a sanctuary, what a wonderful job!
If this baby cannot be fully rehabilitated, would he be used in a public outreach program?

 

[Meggj]

The prognosis isn't looking too good at the moment. Our vet believes that she is not in any distress which is clear, she is taking food, opening her mouth and is very relaxed etc, however he also wanted to put her down due to her having to be handfed.
Being a sanctuary, of course we are going to give her a try if she is not in pain. If the jaw and beak recovers it will be great but it's a case of seeing how she is going to cope.
We do have birds that are not able to be released that we use in our educational program. However, these birds are usually not wild birds but ones that people can no longer look after.

 

[Jayyj]

I wondered from the wording of your first post if you might be a sanctuary. I can understand not being able to release a bird that has been hand fed but surely there must be some way the bird can live a comfortable life around humans. A local bird of prey centre perhaps?

You'd probably know this better than I if you're a sanctuary but don't you need a licence to keep indigenous birds of prey species in the UK?

 

[LeaKP]

Oh i wish there were another alternative to putting him down. Owls are amazing.

 

[Scott]

The prognosis isn't looking too good at the moment. Our vet believes that she is not in any distress which is clear, she is taking food, opening her mouth and is very relaxed etc, however he also wanted to put her down due to her having to be handfed.
Being a sanctuary, of course we are going to give her a try if she is not in pain. If the jaw and beak recovers it will be great but it's a case of seeing how she is going to cope.
We do have birds that are not able to be released that we use in our educational program. However, these birds are usually not wild birds but ones that people can no longer look after.

I sure hope the vet is wiling to assess her pain level, and if able permit the staff to continue feeding until she hopefully regains use of the jaw and beak.

Many zoos have bird shows that use previously injured and non-releasable birds as goodwill ambassadors to the audience. They frequently break into small groups and permit guests to view the bird while held by a handler. Very educational; I've seen various raptors in this settings.

 

[Meggj]

I wondered from the wording of your first post if you might be a sanctuary. I can understand not being able to release a bird that has been hand fed but surely there must be some way the bird can live a comfortable life around humans. A local bird of prey centre perhaps?

You'd probably know this better than I if you're a sanctuary but don't you need a licence to keep indigenous birds of prey species in the UK?

Tawny owls are protected by law so it is illegal to keep a wild tawny owl. We have released some in the past in a semi wild state where they occasionally come back for food, others have been able to have been released outright.

Hopefully this little one survives and makes a full recovery. We have four adult tawny owls already so when it is older it will likely be joining them if possible.

I'll let you all know how it is doing today when I get home tonight.

 

[RavensGryf]

Oh he is adorable. He looks like a little doll. I wish all the best for the little guy.

 

[Meggj]

The little one is doing well, and is eating bigger foods. It had some roughage today so will hopefully cough up a pellet. Police brought in another tawny from the same area so probably from the same clutch. This one is uninjured but was starving. Ate quite a bit of food, took it straight away. And this one is a feisty little thing which is what we like to see. It was clicking it's beak and hissing.

 

[Terry57]

Good news about the original baby, and I'm so glad that the starving one was brought in as well. Thank goodness for the work y'all do there.

 

[Meggj]

Hey guys. Quick update.
So we have had lots of babies in recently.
We now have four baby tawnys in total, and all four are eating by themselves, even the one with the damaged beak. Unfortunately we are unable to release any of these birds. We have also a baby barn owl that is 20 days old. Two baby jackdaws that look like they will be able to be released. And we had 5 young blue tits brought in. Two didn't make it, the rest were released. Oh and a very young pair of baby doves. We also had a very young blackbird brought in that had been brought in by someone's cat, but unfortunately it died within minutes.
We also have an adult tawny owl brought in that is missing one eye but is doing very well. Mostly good news, which is great, wild baby birds don't tend to do so well so to have so many thriving is fantastic.
My day today has literally been syringe feeding birds all day. Oh and giving a bath to the two baby doves who were covered in god knows what. The water was black coming off them. Bless them.

 

[Allee]

This is a fantastic update! Thank you so much for sharing. I'm delighted to hear the tawny owls are all eating by themselves. The future sounds promising for them, including the little one with the damaged beak.

It must be really rewarding and often demanding to work with such special guests on a daily basis. A huge thanks to you and your group for making a safe refuge a possibility for these wonderful creatures.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Wheres the point in rescueing a baby Owl just to put it to sleep...it just doesnt make sense to me...surely it can be given a safe haven somewhere where people can provide for its needs...just because a bird cant be released back to the wild shouldnt place a death sentence over its head. As a child we took in many injured birds from the garden (alot of families did back then...no AV's to turn to either just ordinary vets) most of the birds once they recovered returned to the wild except a crow and a magpie...the magpie by choice and the crow out of necessity as its sight was impaired but it adjusted well and lived free but just relied on us a lot for everything including its food. There was also a song thrush that could not fly due to a wing injury but it hopped from shrub to shrub fluttering with its wings giving the impression it could fly low...it depended on us for food too but it lived in the wild for years and even raised several families in the wild...again with our help but Im just making the point that all these birds would have been put to sleep by our vet at the time...birds adapt very well and even the disabled ones can have a good life if helped to do so by the humans around them. While I think you are wonderful for rescuing the beautiful Tawny Owl I think now that youve rescued it you owe it to this Owl to find a place for it so it can have a good quality of life even if it has to receive the help of some humans to do so for the rest of its life.

 

[BIRDIGIRL]

Just now seeing the update that the injured tawny owl is eating with the other baby owls which is Great news...thank you for the update...your hands are certainly full looking after all those rescued babies.

 

[Mwolfe1080]

Did he have my Hogwarts letter attached to his leg when you found him. I still haven't received it yet.