A harassed Barred Owl was rescued from a murder of crows Monday.
A Terrace resident was walking his dog through George Little Park when a worn out owl landed at his feet.
Crows swarmed through the air and landed on trees nearby as the man picked up the owl and walked to Ye Olde Chop Bloc, a barber shop in the 4700 block of Lazelle Avenue.
There he talked to Tanya Middleton, an apprentice at the shop.
“I guess the owl was being chased by about 50 crows,” Middleton said.
“It just flew and landed right at the guy’s feet. It looked up at him and it was just exhausted.”
The man, who remains unidentified, then took the owl to the Terrace provincial Conservation Service office where it was examined by Conservation Officer Ryan Gordon.
“It looked like it had an injury to one of its talons. One of its feet was a little bit bloody,” he said.
The owl was placed in a large crate and shipped via Bandstra Transportation Services to the Prince Rupert Wildlife Rehab Shelter.
Shelter owner Nancy Golinia says the owl was also given treatment for a few common parasites and round worms.
“He got a couple of pecks [from the crows], but nothing too bad,” she said.
The owl is being given antibiotics and is being fed proteins to strengthen him for the winter.
“It should be about three to four weeks, trying to get him up to size because we are facing winter now. He is a young one and he is going to have a little bit of a tougher time than the senior ones [surviving the winter],” Golinia said.
Golinia says the owl will be released in Prince Rupert by the shelter after which it will find its way back to Terrace.
By being released in Prince Rupert, the bird will know where to come if its struggles to find food in the winter, she said.
Golinia believes the mobbed owl did come to the man in the park for help.
“If you look into wildlife, it is absolutely amazing how certain injured ones will go to a human for help,” she said.
“The people that sent [the owl] in did everything right. They got him the help that he needed.”