My oldest daughter spent the night a friends house and came home the next morning to tell us that an injured Great Horned Owl was behind her friends house.

A neighbor was at the house and as it turns out we were on our way out to take a walk in our neighborhood. So, we changed our route and decided to check up on the creature. As it turns out, the owl had been there for at least one night about 30 or so feet from a dog run. So, the dogs barked all night long.... [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] We spotted the owl on a pile of old logs and saw that it wasn't moving too well. So, we left, finished our walk, and then began to make some phone calls to the local SPCA and Maryland DNR (Dept of Natural Resources). As it turned out, it was Tuesday and election day. So, all of the state people we off that day. We called around and got the phone number of a local guy who is licensed to handle injured wildlife (state and federal). We left messages and began to worry about the poor animal as it was cold and it was supposed to rain. So, we called another Animal Rescue organization and they gave us instructions on how to capture the owl. So, we gathered up our portable dog crate, a few old blankets, and some leather gloves for the capture.

As it turned out, the capture was very simple. The animal was not moving very much and was obviously sick. So, we threw the blanket over the owl gentlely, wrapped it up, and placed it into the cage. We then drove the owl home and kept it in our basement to keep it away from our other animals.

We finally heard from the local animal rescue person and he came to get the bird around dinner time. He reached into the cage and got the owl by its feet. The bird did not put up any struggle. It was sick. The man then checked it's eyes and rubbed his fingers on the breast bone. The bird was emaciated and hadn't eaten too much. The man also said that the eyes were dialated which indicated that the bird probably had some head trauma. So, he placed it into his cage and took it home.

We called him the next day and he told us that he went to give the owl some medicine about an hour after he got home and the poor thing had died.

It is said to see such majestic animals die like that. Raptors are needed to keep the balance in nature and you really do not see or hear many owls nowdays.

We did our best and the rescue person did his. That is all one can do. The attached picture was taken just after we got him home.

Terry