Check Out Some Hope for Wildlife Videos!Not so sad anymore! Back in October of 2025, this beautiful Great Horned Owl was admitted with head trauma from an unknown cause. His left eye was squinted shut from an injury, his pupils were uneven. and his upper beak was broken. He couldn't stand, and would fall backwards if he tried. One of the notes on his intake exam was "very sad guy". While we treated his eye and head injuries, we did surgery on his beak to align it properly and fix it in place with steri-strips, external fixtures and a heat-moldable plastic seal and hold the crack. For a while it was necessary to feed him with forceps, which takes a while since a big bird eats a lot of mice. Unfortunately, during his recovery in a large outdoor unit, the beak got injured again. So back in for another procedure he went, this time to fix the beak in place with Acrylx, a specialized composite resins used for very rigid, custom-molded fixes. This time there was no other issues in the enclosure and over time the beak grew out and we had a healed, healthy, able-to-eat on his own owl again! And now he's back home where he belongs. We think he looks happy. ____________________________________________________________________ Back in the water again! This Lesser Scaup was brought in three weeks ago after being hit by a car. She arrived with a pretty bad laceration to the left side of her head, bleeding from the nostrils, and a swollen right eye. She went into surgery to stitch her head wound closed, and fortunately we didn't find any broken bones or other injuries. She lost a significant amount of weight pretty quickly from not eating, so we had to help her out by tube feeding her a bit. But look at her now! The bandages are off and she's feeling well enough to paddle on her own and eat. She's got some dried greens and mealworms, but she really likes the shimp. The pool time is good physiotherapy and stimulative enrichment for her, and it will help to speed up her recovery time. ____________________________________________________________________ Blink and you'll miss it! These Evening Grosbeaks didn't waste any time being released. Sometimes releases take a while, and sometimes they are over before you know it. These grosbeaks all recovered from various injuries caused by running into windows. ____________________________________________________________________ Splish splash! This herring gull was admitted after he was found unable to stand or fly, feathers covered in feces, and with an abrasion to one wing. He was pretty lethargic and it seemed like he was not able to use his legs at all, so we feared a spinal injury. Fortunately, after a day of rest and medical treatment, he started sitting up on his hocks a little bit, which was a good sign. We didn't find anything broken or any other serious injuries, so we filled a tub up with just enough water that his feet could touch the bottom, hoping to give him some physio. He really seemed to enjoy it, and started cleaning himself! After a week he's now standing on his own and his attitude is getting back to his old seagull self!
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