Police, volunteers swoop in to rescue injured snowy owl in Bayfield
The owl is two or three years old, a biologist treating it says
A snowy owl found injured and unable to fly in Bayfield was rescued by concerned residents, police officers and animal welfare volunteers before being taken to a rehabilitation centre near Niagara Falls.
Huron County OPP were called on Thursday to Long Hill Road in Bayfield after someone found the injured bird.
"I couldn't get out there myself but we have a large volunteer network that helps with driving and containing birds, so I walked the officer through containing the bird and also made calls to see who was willing to go out there," said Brian Hayhoe, a biologist and wildlife rehabilitator with The Owl Foundation, an animal rescue service based in Vineland Station.
"The bird was quite weak, its eyes were squinty. We knew it wouldn't put up too much of a fight. It was stressed."
The injured snowy owl was captured by OPP officers, who drove it to Clinton where it was taken by volunteers to The Owl Foundation facility. (Supplied by OPP )
Hayhoe talked the officers through putting a towel over the owl, then transporting it to Clinton, where volunteers came to take it to the foundation's headquarters.
It's touch-and-go for the bird right now, Hayhoe said, because although there are no obvious injuries, the owl's protein levels, as measured by a blood test, are very low.
"The bird is very thin, just over 1,000 grams," he said. "It could be acute emaciation, failure to hunt, poisoning, we just don't know. This morning, the bird is a lot brighter, but it's hard to recover a bird when their blood work is that low."
The focus now is hydration, Hayhoe said.
Officers with Huron OPP want to thank the concerned citizen who helped them, as well as the Owl Foundation volunteers who came to pick up the bird.
This article was written by Kate Dubinski for CBC News.