Hooty’s Rehab Continues; Outlook Good
Decatur Metro | September 25, 2009From the most excellent Michael Ellis at A.W.A.RE…
The owl is, as of today going into a small intermediate flight cage to test its ability to fly and rebuild its flight muscles.
At this point the wings are being held up in a balanced position and we have hopes that the bird will progress over the next week to a point that it will be releasable back to its home habitat.
…AWARE and CNC work together on many bird rescues. We often do the rescue and emergency triage and then we transferred this bird to CNC for its continued care. Kathryn [at the Chattahoochee Nature Center] specializes in raptors and is one of the best in our field so this bird has a good chance.
Michael also mentions that he sees no reason why we couldn’t make the bird’s release back into it’s habitat a publicized event. I’ll coordinate with the Chattahoochee Nature Center to see if we can make that happen.
Stay tuned.
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Yay! I’m so pleased our little Hooty is doing so well, and may even be able to come back home– not sure I’d publicize it, but maybe I’m reacting from a surfeit of caution. Thanks for the update.
Why wouldn’t you publicize it cubalibre?
I guess it depends on how “public” the publicizing is– I think when I read “event”, I was picturing a news crew filming it, flashing cameras going off, & a crowd of people cheering & clapping, etc. I dunno, I just have a feeling that it might be safer for Hooty if it isn’t subjected to the stress of a lot of onlookers crowding around its habitat when it comes back home– after all, it hasn’t been home in a while, and a crowd clapping & cheering at its release might disorient it, or make it injure itself again in an attempt to get away from them (no matter how well-intentioned they’ll be). Yeah, I know no one’s going to be grabbing at the bird or running after it, but– it’s a wild thing, and it just seems like we should let it come home in peace & quiet. I can’t sufficiently articulate my hesitation on this, so I’m sure I’m not making sense, but I hope you can dig where I’m coming from about it. If the event is pretty low-key, I guess that would alleviate some of my hesitation. And to anyone tempted to flame me for being a bleeding heart, yes, I’m well aware that none of this is even remotely about ME, but I’m just puttin’ it out there. Thanks for asking, DM!
Great news !
cuba – good point about too much fanfare. I bet CNC will be clear about what is appropriate. Since owls are nocturnal I’m thinking the release might not be in the daytime.
It isn’t about me either but I sure would love to see that guy fly back into the trees. He was so pitiful huddled up against the utility pole while the traffic whooshed by on Church St.
DM thanks for keeping up with this story.
I with Cuba – Maybe we could have someone film it and put it up here on our very own Decatur Metro website… or perhaps Youtube. I think one person filming would be much less stressful for Hooty than a whole crowd of folks clapping and carrying on. I think we need to do what’s best for Hooty rather than what is most satisfying for us.
We could even plan an event around the release video… and maybe charge a little admission to donate to AWARE or CNC. Then we still get our event but Hooty gets to join the “real world” in a relaxed setting.
Excellent news! (as I type I’m hearing an Owl hooting in the woods) and thank you so much for keeping us up to date with Hooty.
Agree with Cubalibre and think someone filming it would be great for those of us pulling for Hooty.