A baby owl is now resting comfortably, thanks to some help from a Good Samaritan. It was left homeless after dangerous weather destroyed its home.
At just a few weeks old, the owl lost its native habitat on Sunday when storms hit South Florida. Two other owls were also found on the ground by a tree near Southwest 120th Street and 102nd Avenue.
"The tree had been split open, so there was no nest to put them back into. The parents had left, the nest was gone," said Lloyd Brown, Wildlife Rescue of Dade County.
Members of Wildlife Rescue of Dade County rescued the three birds to take care of them until they were old enough to go back into the wild.
"The first thing that we do when we receive an animal, especially if it's wet and it appears cold, is we take its temperature. That's the main thing, especially because they were babies," said Amanda Margraves, Wildlife Rescue of Dade County.
Although the team warmed them up in incubators, only one owl survived. One of the birds had to be euthanized because of a serious wing injury and the other passed away, possibly of internal injuries from the tree collapse.
"We'd like to see them all make it, but we're realistic. I've been doing this 22 years," Brown said.
Local
The survivor is hand-fed mice and rats, but at the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, it will eventually learn to prey, kill and eat on its own.
"They don't belong to us, they belong in the wild. We just take care of them," Brown explained.
The owl will stay at the center for 3-4 months and go through a three-step process. It starts off in a crate, then goes into a larger space and finally, will fly in an atrium area. Then it will be released in the wild.
