An owl that was found partially covered in concrete after getting inside a cement mixer in southwestern Utah is expected to fly free again after being carefully cleaned up by animal sanctuary workers who described the bird as a “fighter.”
The great horned owl was found at Black Desert Resort in the southwestern part of the state. It arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, earlier this month, its face, chest and right wing covered in dried concrete. After ensuring the bird could breathe, sanctuary workers spent days breaking up concrete with tweezers and cleaning its feathers with a toothbrush, dish soap and their fingers.
Two weeks later, he was able to fly again and continues to recover in the cage.
“He’s small, which is probably why he ended up in a concrete mixer, and we think it’s a male because he’s on the smaller side,” said Bart Rychwalski of the animal sanctuary.
Great horned owls usually have a soft undercoat on their feathers that allows them to fly silently while hunting. Judah Battista, chief officer of the Best Buddies Sanctuary, said the concrete had corroded the feathers of the rescued owl.
The bird now makes a “whooshing” sound as it flies, and the shelter will not release it into the wild until it has moulted its feathers and can fly silently again. Battista said that should happen next spring or summer.
“Once our owl friend recovers, we expect to return him to a place close to where he was found, not on a construction site, but somewhere that is his natural habitat and we release him and leave him alone,” Rychwalski said.