Please don’t mistake my calm discussion of these birds for lack of ire or having vented all my frustration last update—I’m still homicidally infuriated and have spent many hours contemplating a fitting fate for the cretins who ruined these owls for life in the wild. Unfortunately, every punishment I’d like to mete out is considered cruel and unusual. Yeah, and kidnapping owls from the wild, trying to make pets of them, feeding them the wrong diet, forcing them to use improper perches, and then abandoning them to fend for themselves isn’t cruel and unusual??
I could rant about this for the remainder of this update, but I suspect I’m preaching to the choir, so let’s look at some of the less fury-inducing events at LWR over the past couple of weeks.
The bluebird, both mourning doves and both possums have been released. The squirrel with the broken leg has joined her cousins in preparing for release. Below are some photos, from several weeks ago, of vets Jim Hobby and Shelley Baumann working on her. (They were slated for the last update, but the imprinted screech got priority.)

Look at his eyes—the deep gold color is a mark of a mature bird.



Vet Jim Hobby examined him today and found the right eye so full of blood that determining the full extent of the damage is impossible. We’re treating the eye to reduce inflammation and try to get the blood to drain, so that we can get a better idea of what’s going on with the eye. This little guy’s talons are also horribly overgrown, an indication that he’s not had proper perches. Based on the trauma to the eye, this fellow’s got a serious headache, in addition to the pain the eye must be causing. If he’s very lucky, the eye won’t have sustained so much damage that he’ll lose vision in it.