A little Great Horned Owl with a big attitude

Back on 7/1, Ruth and I picked up an eagle from Homer at the airport. We arrived back at TLC long after normal closing time. We walked in on Cindy and Todd and a little patient from Valdez. We squared the eagle away first because he was an easy patient.

The little patient was a very young Great Horned Owl with a broken leg and some other minor injuries. We guess it was hit by a car. Cindy and Todd were about to do an operation that they have had the chance to do several times in the past few years. They insert stainless steel pins in each half and secure them with an external clamp, sort of. The whole deal is called an external fixiter.

So I went out to my truck and got the camera. I told Ruth we would be there just for a little while. She knew better. We stayed for the whole operation.

At the end, Todd applied a 3M putty that hardens in 5 minutes. The bird can't bite through it and it's strong enough to hold the repair until it's removed. Then it is easily removed with wire cutters.

I went in to visit at lunch today and the little booger was standing on the injured leg. Of course he huffed and puffed like the big bad bird he is. I talked with Cindy and she said he was jumping around on it earlier. He'll feel even better when he gets the external fixiter removed.

Here's a link to pictures of the whole operation, if you can handle it.

CLICK HERE