Superbowl

From West Shore Wildlife Center

This Barred Owl is one tough cookie! 💪

Patient 25-2198 came in when he was found in his rescuers yard seemingly very out of it. They quickly reached out to us and brought him in after talking to us. Upon examining him, we could see right away that his left leg had been broken from what was likely a collision with a vehicle.

We hurriedly got him ready to go get x-rays to see what our next steps were. After seeing that the fracture was looking well lined up and clean, we decided that surgery was our best step forward.

We reached out to our good friend Dr. S (the same vet who did the surgery on the skunk that was previously posted about) at the Animal Hospital of Dauphin County and she took on the challenge! The bone was successfully pinned and is actively working on fusing back together.

This surgery cost us around $1100 after discounts and we are looking for your help to cover it! You can donate on our website or on this post!

So there's a few things in this post that would make me normally not share it, but there are enough individual cool bits, I decided to do it anyway.

This guy is injured pretty bad and the photos are a little sadder than I'd like, but it's made it through the hard part.

Poor thing is in for his exam. I'm sure he's scared and in a lot of pain, but they need a full picture of its health to determine the best path forward.

The fuzzy legs are still very cute though.

X-ray shows us a clean break, which doesn't always happen in birds. Bird bones are harder than our bones. Mammal bones have some flex, being more solid, which both helps them to not break to begin with, and when it does, it's usually a nice clean break. Bird birds are hollow with a supporting matrix to give them strength along with a huge weight reduction since they have to fly. It reminds me of a gluten matrix in bread making.

So bird bones are hard and ultra lightweight, but of course there is a tradeoff for everything. With no flex and thin walls full of air pockets, bird bones will often shatter, and they are difficult to reassemble as it's more like repairing broken glass.

Take a look at this Long Eared Owl's wing. Instead of just being able to set the bone, it can take surgery to open up the area and try to piece the bone together again or remove shards.

If this Barred Owl in the post had to get a break, it certainly got a lucky one.

Also, check out the foot and you get a great view of the owls outer toe, the one that can swivel either front or back. This is the toe that makes them zygodactyl, one of owls' special features.

He's all wrapped up and ready for some free meals and living care until he can start flight training to prepare for release.

Bird bones heal faster than mammal bones, in weeks rather than months. I'm guessing it's because there is less bone to have to rebuild, but I'm not sure of that, it's just my guess.

The wrap makes me think of a finger trap.

Lastly, I rarely share donation links, not because they don't need or deserve it, but I never want you guys to feel I pressure you to do anything. If you do want to donate, I feel you should donate to your local rescue, as those are your animals in need.

But this post shows saving some of these animals can be very expensive, even with the charity some vets will donate or discount.

Their donation link is also set up very nicely, with some sample costs given to give you an idea what care costs.

$25: Purchases enough greens to feed family of juvenile Eastern Cottontail Rabbits for one week

$113 (or $10 per month): Supports the cost to rehabilitate an average of one patient from intake to release

$300: Supports one veterinary visit for our most critical patients

$500: Funds the annual building costs and maintenance of one pre-release enclosure for our patients and non- releasable animal ambassadors

$1,000: Covers the full rehabilitation cost for one litter of orphaned Virginia Opossums

As a reminder, wildlife rehab is notpublicly funded anywhere in the world that I am aware of. All these lives saved are by private donations. But that doesn't need to feel intimidating.

Browse the wishlists at the link and see what they need. It might be different than you expected.

There are like most of ours, a ton of basic cleaning supplies, as animal work is messy and smelly and germy. Some critter food, or things for them to play with. And some basic medical supplies, like I know we always need 10cc syringes for feeding small mammals and we reuse them but they don't last long, as they're made for single use.

Yes, there are a few big ticket items they would love to receive and be forever grateful for, but most stuff is less than $20. Believe me, we love getting paper towels, or basic foods, or whatever it may be. The big stuff is nice, but they're often long term goal things, the little basic items keep us going day to day.

Most places have Amazon lists, take cash donations, Chewy or RodentPro for food supplies, or a list of things you can drop off in person. We even need things like fruit/veg if you have surplus from a garden, you can possibly knit the bird nests we use, or donate building supplies for projects. There's so many options if you do want to help.

Or volunteer time! I have a ton of fun with both the people and the animals. I've gotten to take home squirrels, birds, and even a Screech Owl to release, in addition to hundreds of other animals I've worked with this year. We've had over 4000 patients this year, which is typical. Some parts of the job are really challenging, but the good parts are just soooooo good.

I'll stop now, I could go on forever, but I think I turned this from a mild downer into a bunch of somewhat fun conversations.