Rare Bird Released

Long Eared Owl Wildlife Sanctuary Of Northwest Florida Today maybe New Years day but it's independence day for a creature who wasn't suppose to be here in the first place.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Tue, January 01, 2008 - 6:06 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, January 01, 2008 - 6:14 pm CST

Today maybe New Years day, but it's independence day for a creature who wasn't suppose to be here in the first place.
"He is a little bitty thing. I don't want to rattle his cage too much." For about a month, Dorothy Kaufmann has been taking care of something few people have ever seen. "It was really an honor."
"It" is a long eared owl. A bird so rare in Florida there have only been six sightings in more than a century.
Injured and starving, the bird was found near Garcon Point by a teenager who Lucy Duncan says may have arrived just in time. "His family cats were kind of toying with it. He shooed the cats away put it in a bird cage and his mother took the next day to the wildlife sanctuary."
That's where Kaufmann came in, "The easy job was getting him back up and make sure he was healed well and back to flying," she says.
Getting the bird healthy wasn't unusual. What was unusual, this bird wasn't even suppose to be here according to Duncan. "Typically this bird does not come this far south. It's normal range in winter is central Alabama to central Georgia."
About fifty people gathered on the edge of what will be the perfect habitat for the raptor and almost as quickly as he came into their lives, the owl flew away, healthy, heavier and ready take care of himself.
Folks at the Wildlife Sanctuary of Northwest Florida say this was the best way to start the New Year, giving something a second chance at life.

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