From Blackland Prairie Raptor Center

Today on Fix’em Fridays, we share patient 23-0655.

This burrowing owl arrived to our facility just over 2 weeks ago. It was stuck inside a Home Depot and took significant effort to retrieve it and get it out. As is standard with such effort, it was brought to BPRC for an examination to ensure it wasn’t dehydrated, or had an underlying injury we could not see without a trained eye.

X-rays, bloodwork, and a physical exam all appeared normal. The only clinical finding was discharge from one of its eyes. After receiving medications for the eye, this patient was placed into an outdoor enclosure and has so far passed all tests with flying colors! Now comes the interesting part - where to release this owl!

Since it is a burrowing owl, and an adult, we can assume this owl has an established territory close to where it was found. Our team’s next task will be to identify other burrowing owls or this owl’s burrow to ensure a successful release back into the wild before it gets too cold!

If we are unsuccessful, we will need to find a new location far away from potential dangers.