Where’s the Fire?
🔝A Great Horned Owl was caught in “exclusionary netting” at a San Francisco Hospital building. I had no way to access the poor bird.
The owl’s left carpal joint was pushed through the netting, trapping her wing.
With no other options, I phoned the S F Fire Department, and nearby Station 10 sent their ladder truck crew to help! Firefighter Steven literally backed me up on the long climb to the owl.
At the top, I cut the netting around the wing to take the owl down.
When we were off the ladder, I could safely remove the remaining netting from the owl’s wing.
A field exam revealed no palpable injuries, which is great but surprising news. Often being suspended by one wing, and struggling to get free, can injure a bird. I took her to WildCare in San Rafael for evaluation and rads (x-rays), which confirmed no skeletal fractures or major injuries, just soft tissue swelling. She was provided subcutaneous fluids before I drove her to Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue (Petaluma) where she spent a couple of weeks recovering and regaining her conditioning in a large flight cage, When she was fit again, I brought her to a park half a block from where she was captured, and released her back into her wild urban life.
Those of us who rescue wildlife often say “It takes a village.” Thanks to the reporting parties Melani and Phoebe, who noticed the owl’s plight, phoned me for help, and took these photos. Kudos to the prompt and great-to-work-with truck crew of Station 10, SFFD, appreciation to Vet staff at WildCare (who helped out in the middle of moving their facility to interim quarters during WildCare’s huge remodeling project), and to the good folks at Sonoma Wildlife who helped bring this beautiful hunter back to releasable condition.