Intrigued

I've been informed about a pair of Great Horned Owls being heard in a park not far from us. It got me rather intrigued not just because it's a pair of Owls but because it's in a park where I released a young Great Horned Owl 2 years ago. I can't help but wonder if he is one of the pair.

In a perfect world I could post the name of the park, like putting the word out, and there might be kind and willing people to assist (more eyes and ears would be better). But in this world, this day and age, I cannot. Not that I think I have a mass of blog readers but putting the word out publicly on where Owls may be is not my thing as it may have a negative effect on the park and the birds. I have less to worry about people messing with Great Horns as I would over smaller Owls but my rule is to not publicly post Owl locations and I will keep it to ALL Owls.

I plan to explore the park a little more in the coming weeks while the trees are still bare. I will listen to the Crows and the Blue Jays as I walk, scanning pine trees. Hopefully the birds will help me in my search.

If I find the Owls, I will focus on the legs of the birds. The one I released is banded.

It would be an amazing continuation of this Owl's story. He fell out of his nest in February. Someone found him. Toronto Wildlife was contacted. The Owl could not be put back into the nest because it was too high up. The young Owl went from Toronto Wildlife to The Owl Foundation where he was raised by their super nanny Big Red who has fostered many young Great Horns over the years.

Come October, he was ready to be released and we chose a park a little further west of where he was born. I should have monitored better in the following months but only made two trips that winter without any sighting. Of course he wasn't limited to the park. He could go anywhere. Through the area, into the residential, there are a lot of massive conifers a Great Horned Owl could spend the days in. This is all if he chose to stay here. If he was not driven out. If he survived this time on his own.

We shall see what comes of this. If nothing else, I got some fresh air and exercise. Wish me luck!

The blog about his release can be viewed here.

Dein Kampf ist vorbei

Many of you have been waiting for an update on the injured Skunk I recently caught in our backyard.

Well here it is...

Unfortunately he had to be put down. The x-rays showed his injuries were quite extensive. For starts, the left shoulder was broken. This is why he was unable to use his front left leg. His nails on that foot were quite overgrown because he could not use that foot for walking or digging, which would wear them down. He also had several rib fractures. I suspect he survived a car strike. The poor thing was in pain and suffering, and he was not going to get any better. The humane thing to do was to end his suffering.

I was saddened when I got the news. I am saddened 24 hrs later as I key this. I always have the best hopes for any animal I bring into the wildlife centre. But I also understand that this was the best thing for the Skunk. I find peace in knowing he is not suffering any longer. I will not see him struggling about the backyards as he searched for food, trying to dig with his one good front paw and some how stay balanced with his other one.

It amazes me the strength in wild animals who have sustained serious injuries yet keep moving on, struggling to survive. Their will is strong. A lot stronger than most humans. I remember the pain of my 2 broken ribs from last Summer; the first 2 weeks were excruciating.

Some may argue I should have left him be. I don't know how many could watch any living creature struggle as this one did. It reminded me much of the Raccoon from a few years back that was pulling itself about our backyard with his front paws as he could not use his back legs at all. How it got around and where it slept the days away is beyond me (it couldn't climb).

Rest now little one. Dein Kampf ist vorbei which translates to Your Struggle is Over. I didn't want to give away the update to most reading this with the blog title so I decided to go for German which is half of my background.

If you are happened to miss the initial blog about this guy from last week, here is the link.

Compassion

One of our backyard furry pals made an appearance a couple weeks ago, showing signs of un-wellness. It's one of the Skunks and seemed to be holding his front left leg up to his body. After some observation of this, I made a call into Toronto Wildlife Centre and explained the situation. End result was if I could catch him, to bring him in.

I'd seen the Skunk 4x. The initial sighting. Another morning he came out shortly after 9 am, I tried to trap him but he soon disappeared.

Note: I'm using my 500 mm lens so I am no where near him as I snapped a few pictures.

The next time it was just after 1 pm and I was about ready to leave for work. Funny to see him out at various day times but it's winter and when there's a little bit of a thaw, these semi-hibernating creatures appear and they are hungry.

This past Wednesday night, I am outside after work and notice him in the yard next door. He's digging in the snow by their shed, looking for food.

It's been difficult seeing him struggle to get around when the snow is on the ground. Then to try and find food, digging with his good foot while leaning down on his bad one. I'm not really sure if it's his foot or leg but something is wrong.

I decide it's a good time to try since I'm not having to rush out to work. This is going to make my Whisky Wednesday a memorable one.

I set the trap and watch from a distance. He's fumbling around next door and slowly working his way over to our yard. Next thing I know is he has some company, or rather competition for food in way of a ginormous Raccoon. Great! The Raccoon smells the wet cat food in the trap and wants it. I lure the Raccoon elsewhere with some cat kibble that is not in a cage.

I head inside for a bit, giving the Skunk it's space and no distractions from me. I make my drink and watch things from the window. It's after 11 pm and I can only see so far down the yard but that's alright. I will be going back out there soon enough.

Twenty minutes later, my sipping beverage is done and out I go. The night air is filled with the stench of Skunk. He's in the trap and the Raccoon is up a nearby cedar. I am assuming there was some kind of altercation between the two and the Skunk reacted. Everyone is hungry and aggressive right now.

I forgot to bring out a towel to cover the trap. Back in I go. I can't find one I know we don't need. I have a bag of sheets we were going to donate so I use one of them. It's a lot bigger than a towel but it will work.

I slowly walk towards the trap. I can see the Skunk fussing inside, trying to get out. I talk softly to him as to not startle him. I know my words mean nothing, giving him no comfort at this time, but he will know I am there. I then drop the sheet over the trap.

I'm glad it's a mild winter night, being just above zero celcius, and I have no worries about keeping him in the shed for the remainder of the night. Plus he has a whole tin of Fancy Feast cat food in the trap with him, which I am sure he will eat.

As I put him in the shed for the night, I am choking on the smell of the spray. It's in my hair, it's on my clothes. I can taste it like I just took a big bite out of it in the air. I set the trap down. I mutter an apology and wish him a good night. I shut the doors and head back to the house, making a quick call to TWC, to leave a message about my success.

I go inside, get changed, leaving those clothes in the furnace room. I wash up, wetting the ends of my hair and shampoo the area. It's the best I can do at this time of the night. I'm exhausted from work and the adventure, the whisky has made me really mellow.

Jump ahead to morning. I am anxious to go out there and check on him but I don't. I wanted to wait until it was time to leave for the centre before bothering him. The centre doesn't open until 8:30 am and I was going to wait until after 9 when morning rush hour would ease up. The less time for us being in the truck would be a good thing.

I chat with someone at the centre prior to leaving, giving them a heads up I was coming in.

I go out to the shed to get him. Angie left me a towel to use for transporting him covered instead of the bed sheet. So now I want to pull the sheet off the trap only to realize he had pulled a lot of it inside through the night. Seriously dude?!?!

I bring the trap out to the lawn where there is more light and room to do this. I'm lightly talking to him, explaining what the hell I am doing now. I know I asked him to keep his cool.

It took some work to pull all the material back through the various points where he pulled it in. It was a bumpy ride for him inside. But I finally had it all out. As I pulled the sheet away from the trap, I was covering the exposed section with the towel. He fussed a bit but all went rather smoothly.

The drive to the centre was fairly quick and hassle free. It was a stinky ride because he had sprayed hours earlier. I just breathed lightly and dealt with it.

He was getting an initial assessment pretty much right away and then settle him in somewhere until the next steps.

They thanked me for catching him. I thanked them for taking him in.

I drove home with the windows down. I got some odd looks because no one on the road had any idea my struggle. Hey, it's the first day of February, +3 celcius and sunny; that's reason enough to have the windows open for a little while.

Anyway, it is now the waiting game until I hear an update. Let's wish him well and hope he gets a 2nd chance at a wildlife. Some time has passed from when the injury occurred until now, that can go against him and a good recovery. I have no doubt I did the right thing. He was in pain and most likely slowly starving to death as he was unable to properly look for food as how Skunks do.

There are a lot of opinions about wildlife rehabilitation. Some people have very strong ones for it, some as strong against it. I know there are times we should not interfere but this certainly is not one of them. We welcome these creatures to our property. We love seeing them. It's only fair to watch out for them. To have compassion.

What's funny is when I filled out my volunteer driver application, there was a section about animals not wanting to drive. The Skunk was the only one I could think of because of my fears of getting sprayed. This is the second one I have brought in, in the last 8 months. My how things have changed. We've learned a lot about these creatures, especially last Summer when we had so many wandering the backyards. They are misunderstood animals, like so many others. Not everything is rabid and wants to rip your face off. And Skunks aren't nearly as trigger happy as so many people think.

Lastly, none of that "hero" calling malarchy. I'd like to think anyone reading this blog would have done something for the Skunk too!

I have an short update on what has come of him in the last week, see here.