Two months after being injured in field fence, young owl flies again

It may not be the best photo he’s ever taken, but Mark Rezac wants to frame the picture he took of a young great horned owl flying into the distance.

It’s the same bird that he helped rescue in late June after it became entangled in the fence surrounding his sister’s hay field near Raymond, Nebraska.

Everyone had warned him the young owl might not survive, but after eight weeks of care, it was released back to the same hay meadow.

“That was the ultimate goal,” Rezac said. “That is what made me feel the best. Watching it fly away.”

Rezac had been haying on June 26 when he noticed the owl stuck in the fence, its wings spread wide. At first, he thought it was dead.

After Rezac cut the fencing holding the owl, Dina Barta of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission was able to take the bird to Bellevue Animal Hospital, where it was examined by veterinarian David Gordon. One wing had puncture wounds and was very bruised. The other had some mild bruising.

Gordon worked with Betsy Finch of the Raptor Conservation Alliance in Cass County to care for the owl over the next eight weeks.

“He got the bird pretty quickly and got the injuries sewn up,” Finch said. “Luckily, the bird didn’t have any fractures. It just takes time for all of that to come together and heal.”

The fledgling was at first kept in a small cage with a perch before graduating to a larger cage and then into a flight pen. Finch said they get other birds injured the same way every year.

“It’s kind of a process,” Finch said. “I’m pretty sure he was feeding himself at that point. He sure ate well here. Mass quantities of rats.”

Rezac was there when Gordon released the bird last weekend. He’s grateful that so many people helped the bird return home.

“We need more people to step up and volunteer their time and do the right thing,” he said. “In this instance, trying to save the owl.”