Pygmy Owl Gets Wing Surgery

Lurking in the folds of a soft blue towel is a Northern Pygmy Owl. One eye is covered by the towel's herringbone stitch; the other peers out at the clinic and its occupants with a level of distrust appropriate for a wild animal. A deep blue bandage is located at the owl's shoulders, reminiscent of a heart-shaped diamond. It's worth noting the photo is rotated - the original has the owl upon a corkboard surface, lying on his/her side like Rose Dawson, but with more clothes. This is a reference to a nude scene in Titanic (1997) played by seven-time Oscar nominee Kate Wins-owlet.

2nd of Owltober!

It’s ten years to the day that this lil guy, a Northern Pygmy Owl, had surgery for a broken wing.

Original post – 02 Oct 2016
by Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Northern Utah

located in Ogden, Utah, US 🇺🇸
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Original text:

As we’ve said before, Wildlife Rehabilitation is not cheap and “it takes a village” to make this work; support from individuals just like you.

This Northern Pigmy-Owl (the smallest owl in Utah) came to WRCNU two weeks ago with a broken wing. Here we share photos of his visit to Parrish Creek Veterinary Clinic to repair his injury.

This image has 3 horizontal panels: Panel one shows the patient (same owl + same towel) receiving anaesthesia gas via a transparent cone-shaped mask with a tube out the top. Text to the right reads "naptime". Panel two is an x-ray of the owl's wing with an arrow pointing to the biggest bone. Text in red says "break in right wing humerus" but I don't think it's very funny. Panel three shows the operation. The vet surgeon wears white medical gloves and wields metallic tools aimed at a hole in a plastic sheet covering the patient. A text block reads "not for the squeamish!" and occludes the grisly details.

This single surgical visit ran just shy of $1,000 and thankfully Parrish Creek gives us a discount due to our nonprofit work with wildlife, but even with that this itsy bitsy bird cost WRCNU almost $500 so far—not including his, hopefully, final visit and pin removal next week).

Twin vertical panels show similar profiles of the Pygmy Owl held aloft for the camera. The owl is a scaled-down rugby ball in shape, and has dark royal-green gauze wrapping the wing injury. The owl's feathers are muted brown with lighter tan-to-cream streaks on the face and flecks on the forehead and chest. These flecks are like tiny trees, or symbols in a map legend for wetlands ( 𐠮 𐠮 𐠮 ). At bottom of frame the owl's feet are lightly pinched about the ankle by human fingers. Bunches of pale yellow appendages also known as "toes" emerge from said feet, looking like aglet-sized bananas with the world's tiniest scythe blades attached. The owl's face says, "Don't make me use them."

We’ve taken in almost 2,300 animals so far this year (3 months still to go) and so you might be able to imagine the bills we have to pay to give these amazing animals a second chance in an increasingly “humanized world”.

Enjoy the photos and please consider helping our mission of REHABILITATION, EDUCATION, and RELEASE!
Thank You! ❤

Link to donate to WRCNU for those willing and able.

xo owlsintowels

💛🦉

SpeciesCommon NameMore info
Glaucidium californicumNorthern Pygmy OwlWiki link

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