Fighter the barn owl

Fighter, the barn owl, was found outside the Livingstone Museum on the morning of 23rd June.  He had a broken wing and could not fly.  One of the staff brought him inside, and I later came and rescued him.  On examination his left upper wing bone was found to be rather badly broken.  With my sister’s help we fixed him up with a cardboard splint, held on with duct tape.  He appeared to be limping a bit but we could not see any obvious injury to his legs.  Luckily I had a cage ready that I keep for injured and abandoned birds that need attention.  I put some water in the cage but decided not to try feeding it until it had settled down.  My experience with injured birds is they will not feed the first day or two after being put into captivity.

The next day I noticed he was not standing on his right leg, but holding it up all the time.  I examined it and thought it felt broken, but was not sure.  I decided to leave it, since the owl was still in some shock at being held captive and was obviously still in a lot of pain, so I did not want to handle it too much.  That evening I tried feeding him with some mincemeat.  He would not feed willingly so I forced some into his mouth, which he then swallowed.  Every day I tried to get him to feed by itself, but he would not.  I even tried him on dead mice, but he would not show any interest.  So I had to go on force-feeding him.  I would shove a small mouse down his throat and he would then swallow, sometimes leaving the tail hanging out for a while.

In the cage is a little house that Fighter sleeps in during the day.  In the evenings he comes out and looks around.

For the next two weeks I would force-feed him most evenings.  It was not easy, as holding an owl with a broken wing and probably a broken leg without hurting it is not easy.  Added to this was the fact that he was very scared of being handled, so panicked every time I came near.  For the first few days he seemed quite weak and in pain, and I did not have much hope of him surviving.  I have had very little success with injured adult birds.  However, as the days went by he began gaining strength and began to attack me when tried to get hold of him for his daily feed.  So I thought I would let him feed himself and again tried putting mincemeat or dead mice in front of him in the cage.  The next morning it would be untouched.

After I had had him for about two weeks, one day I found Fighter on the top shelf of the cage for the first time.  I did not know if he had flown up there or climbed up the netting.  But over the next few days I saw him doing both.  The broken wing is very lop-sided with the splint on it, but he can still flap around quite a lot.  This was a good sign.  But still he was not eating by himself and fought every time against being force-fed.

I was really wondering what the best option was.  Firstly, he had not died in two weeks, so there was a good chance of him surviving.  But he would not feed himself and viciously resented being held and force-fed.  So what should I do?  I tried starving him for a day or two.  That did not work.  But then finally, a few days later, when I was really at my wit’s end about what to do, I went to feed him, holding his good wing in one hand and coving up his sharp, attacking claws with an oven glove, I started feeding him.  Finally he calmed down and began to take the food from my hand, for the first time.  I was so relieved, because it was a first step towards independence.  The next day I did the same and again he took the food (mincemeat) from my hand.

12 July 2012 

Today I mixed some kapenta (small fish) in with the mincemeat and put it on a plate.  The moment I came near he climbed up the side of the cage and flapped about.  So I had to catch him, but when I touched the food to his beak he soon calmed down and began eating out of my hand again.  Eventually I was able to completely let go of him and he went on eating from my hand, just above the plate.

It is encouraging, firstly that Fighter has survived more than two weeks in captivity with two rather badly injured limbs, and secondly, that he is finally learning to feed himself and getting more used to being handled.  I hope that in the next few days he will learn to feed directly from the plate and that soon he will also take dead mice by himself.  He appears to be in less pain and is getting more active every day.  Unfortunately it may take some time for his bones to heal.  But if they do heal well, hopefully he can eventually be set free and live the rest of his life out in the wild.