The pair of spotted owlets became family for morning walkers, who paused to say ‘hello’ to them everyday and they too responded by bobbing their heads up and down from amidst the branches.
Owl(all) was well till I received a call from a friend, who said she had noticed one of the owls missing from the tree and hiding behind a rock, in a flowerbed instead! I rushed to the park, only to find the cute owlet with bright yellow eyes, struggling to fly, hopping around fearfully. I ventured very close to it…it allowed me to, desperately wanting to be taken care of, I guess! With stray dogs and cats around, I caught him gently and brought him home.
I kept him in my room and hung some chicken pieces on the stems of a tall plant, which it devoured hungrily. I noticed it couldn’t fly because there was glue stuck on both its wings.
A dear friend agreed to help and together we cleaned the bluish glue by applying oil and brushing through his wings and then washed them with soap and blow dried him! He already looked better and ready to fly.
At about 6 pm, the next day the entire morning walkers’ family came to the park, to bid him goodbye near the same tree where it had been roosting with its mate. It was a great moment for all of us, as it perched on a branch for a while and disappeared soon thereafter.
We later found out that the glue was probably from a sticky mouse trap that people carelessly throw with mice still stuck on them, to which the owl probably descended, to prey upon and got stuck! We appeal to everyone to STOP this practice…this is sheer cruelty towards these innocent creatures!
