We have a visitor this weekend....a barred owl that was hit by a vehicle on M77 north of Blaney Park. It has suffered some head damage; the left eye is swollen shut and the beak partially broken near the top. It sat on the road for a couple of days before someone called the office to report it. It is drinking water and eating a little bit. Today it will go to a rehabilitator for assessment.
Yesterday was a nice warm sunny day; lots of flies out. As I was giving out visitor a drink I noticed flies on the would and shooed them away....and saw they had been laying eggs on the feathers near the eye. I like maggots just fine in their place, but I hat when they are on live animals! Eeesh. So I had to clip away the feathers from the wound to get rid of the eggs and some of the bloody mess. Puir wee thing.
It is definitely more perky today so I think the owl and the rehabber have a decent chance of success, depending on that beak injury. It would be difficult for an owl to survive if it couldn't use it's beak for ripping and shredding...maybe some sort of epoxy might work?
Posted with Blogsy
Poor thing. I wish there was a way we could tell all the animals to stay away from the roads...
ReplyDeleteI hope the owl makes a full recovery although in looking at the eye damage maybe it will be an educational animal as I doubt if it could survive in the wild again-what do you think? We had a similar incident. Check my blog. This has not been my spring for rabbits. )-:
ReplyDeleteAmazing that it survived...and kudos to you for saving it! Let us know how it makes out with the rehabber......For the future - a little dab of raw honey on wounds is a natural anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-viral....and it keeps the flies from laying eggs....
ReplyDeleteHow is the owl doing?
ReplyDelete