Tula the owl still refusing to eat

More than two weeks after I rescued Tula the barn owl, she is still refusing to feed herself. Whatever food I put in her cage she just ignores it. So almost every evening I have to force-feed her. My sister helped once or twice, when she visited. Here she is feeding her mincemeat with tweezers.

She also gave her water through a syringe, as there is no evidence that she drinks by herself from her water bowl.

A week later I am still having to force food into Tula's mouth almost every night. Some nights I just put food in her cage, but she always ignores it. After forcing her to swallow a mouthful of mincemeat she squints up her eyes and appears to either be in great pain or asleep. It seems to be very exhausting for her to swallow. I just cannot work out what is wrong with her. But amazingly she is still alive! She is quite weak and light so I am very hesitant to release her, especially without knowing what the problem is. If only she could tell me...

Tula the owl, continued

A week after rescuing Tula the owl, she was still refusing to eat anything. I tried dead mice, small fish and mincemeat, but she showed no interest at all.

During the day she just sleeps.

And at night she desperately tries to get to get out of the cage.

I thought of releasing her, but she still shows some sign of damage to one eye, and when I picked her up she felt very light.

So two days ago I started force-feeding her with mincemeat. I managed to get some meat into her mouth, which she eventually swallowed, although she was far more interesting in attacking my hand with her sharp beak!

Yesterday I forced some more food into her, which she reluctantly swallowed. She seemed a bit weaker, although still vicious with her claws!

Tula the barn owl

Tula is a another barn owl that I received on 3^rd July 2014. She was found on the ground with blood on her beak and apparently unable to fly. I couldn’t find any other injuries, but she was squinting her eyes, implying she was in pain. I don't actually know what sex it is but have just decided to call her a "she".

I put her in my owl recovery cage and let her settle down.

The next day I had my sister examine her for broken bones, as she has experience in this. She did not find any and suggested she might be a young owl, not yet able to fly. It is possible that she was knocked out of a nest or off a perch by people throwing stones at her. Owls do not have a good reputation here – they are associated with witchcraft and death, so are not treated well. Tula does not look very young, as she has no signs of the downy feathers that the babies have. But perhaps she has not learnt to fly yet.

On the second night I offered her a dead mouse for dinner, but she showed no interest. So I tried cutting it up, since young owls often have their food cut up for them by their mothers or older siblings. She still did not touch it.

So the next night I offered her some small fish together with another small mouse. In the morning I found the dead mouse in a different place but not eaten.

Three days after being rescued, Tula owl appears to be feeling a bit better and is becoming quite defensive every time I come near the cage, puffing up to look bigger than she really is.

Baby owls usually make a drawn out hissing sound, “shhhhhh”, through most of the night, but this one is very quiet. That's why I called her Tula, which means "quiet". Also because her quietness makes it difficult for me to find out what is wrong with her - if only she could tell me. She does have a habit of bowing her head right down and then shaking it from side to side, after her impressive "look how big and scary I am" display. I am not sure exactly what it means, but it appears to be part of the threat display. You can see it in this video clip. It's actually quite funny.

On the fourth day, for the first time, Tula left the safety of her box in the evening and moved out into the open part of the cage to look around. I have given her another small mouse in the hope that she will eat.