The owl caught in a glue trap in Orange County may not ever be able to fully return to the wild.
The great horned owl was not only stuck in the trap; someone trying to help attempted to cut it free, damaging feathers in the process.
How fast those feathers are replaced will determine the owl’s future.
“Unfortunately, feathers do not regrow like hair—they must be replaced naturally during the bird’s annual molt,” Debbie McGuire, executive director of the Wetlands and Wildlife Care Center, said. “This means the owl will need to remain in our care for up to a year before she can be released back into the wild.”
If it takes longer than that, however, the owl might never be able to live independently again, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Citing a 1997 scientific report, McGuire explained that full feather replacement could take four years or more for a great horned owl.
“That is not a good prognosis for our owl,” she said. “However, the WWCC and the Orange County Bird of Prey center are both devoted to giving it a chance.”
As the owl’s recovery process continues, wildlife experts continue to warn against the use of glue traps, which the WWCC has called “indiscriminate killers.”
Dr. Elizabeth Wood, the veterinarian who is taking care of the owl, also condemned glue traps in video shared with KTLA.
“The goal is mice but it traps a lot of other wildlife, and even the mice that they’re intended to trap, die in an inhumane way, of starvation and dehydration or predation or something like that,” she said. “So it’s a pretty brutal pest management method and does ensnare a lot of other wildlife.”
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