High Flying Tawny Owl

Whenever possible we liaise and work with other wildlife centres in the UK in order to deliver the best care possible for wildlife casualties. Working together with other centres is important, ensuring that casualties have the best possible chance of rehabilitation and eventual release back into the wild. Different centres have different methods and skill sets which should be pooled to ensure the best treatment possible for all animals.

One centre that we have worked with several times is East Sussex WRAS who do fantastic work in the south of England and we were recently asked by them if we could help with a tawny owl chick that had sustained a fractured tibia. We are lucky enough to have the support of 2 vets with orthopaedic skills so of course we agreed to take the owl. Stress is one of the most common causes of death in wildlife casualties so the more we can limit this the more chance there is of a successful outcome.

Unfortunately there is no Air Ambulance for wildlife casualties (perhaps that should be the next fundraiser, lol) but WRAS have the support of the fantastic Graham Mountford who has his own light aircraft and he offered to fly the owlet up to Staverton Airport which isn’t far from Vale, saving a huge amount of time and stress for the patient. So on Wednesday 16th May the tawny owl was flown the 100 miles at 3,000ft from Shoreham to Staverton where he was met by one of our team and transported back to Vale. On arrival he seemed totally unphased by his journey, unaware of the lengths people have gone to to help him out. 

We are very hopeful that this first flight will not be his last and his next one will not be in a plane but will be using his own wing power 🙂

Thank you to Graham & WRAS.