Today I made yet another long drive, this time to Shoshoni, to meet Meghann Karsch of the WGF. She had called earlier this morning about an injured Great Grey Owl. They are very rarely seen as they spend most of their time back in the deep woods. This beautiful adult female had been hit by a vehicle and suffered a broken right wing.
It appeared to be a very horrible wound but because this is only the third GGO I've received in 25 years I wanted to see if we could help her. Unfortunately xrays showed that her humerus was broken in three pieces with the blood supply so compromised she would have had to have her wing amputated at her shoulder. The USFWS, in their infinite ignorance of what we do, has decided that no bird can be kept if the wing requires full amputation. So instead of this amazing, rarely seen, awesome bird being used as an educational ambassador to tens of thousands of people, we were required to euthanize her.
I am so sad when this happens, this has been a bad week for saving our precious raptors.
What a tragedy. :-(
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