Owl found in a concrete mixer is on the mend and maybe a bit wiser from the ordeal

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An adolescent owl that was found stuck in a concrete mixer in southwestern Utah is finally on the mend, flying free and maybe a bit wiser from the ordeal.

The great horned owl somehow made his way into the truck-mounted mixer in late October and was discovered by workers pouring concrete at a resort construction site. Lucky for him, a series of people gave a hoot about his predicament.

Workers hosed the bird down before it was wrapped in a towel. It took days for employees at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab to pick the concrete from the bird’s face, chest, and right wing, using forceps to carefully crack the dried debris and cleaning the feathers with toothbrushes and dish soap.

The owl started its long recovery at an aviary run by the organization, and employees anxiously waited for it to grow new feathers. But the bird didn’t molt as predicted.

In early May, he underwent a procedure called imping, which uses adhesive to graft donor feathers onto existing shafts.

“The first few feathers were extremely nerve-wracking, but as we got into the groove, the imping became more comfortable, and everything went smoothly,” said Bart Richwalski, a supervisor at the sanctuary.

Great horned owls typically have a downy coating that allows them to fly quietly as they hunt. But the concrete frayed the rescued owl’s feathers and caused it to make a whooshing sound while flying.

To prepare for the imping procedure, sanctuary staff examined the owl’s feather patterns every few weeks and snipped damaged shafts in advance.

The owl was anesthetized, and the donor feathers from a similarly sized owl that had died were laid out nearby to replicate each wing. The staff then cut the feathers to the necessary length, lined them up, and adhered them to the bird.

By the end of the 90-minute procedure, the owl had 10 new primary feathers and a secondary feather on his right wing. But then came the real test: could he fly silently?

The bird was placed in a large aviary to recover from the anesthesia and quickly took flight after awakening.

This article and video were provided by The Associated Press.

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[Animal sanctuary staff replacing feathers on a great horned owl that was stuck in a concrete mixer]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “So today we’re going to be imping a great horned owl who fell into a concrete mixer. So we’re going to be replacing some of his feathers with some donor feathers.”

[Donor feathers lined up on a surgical table]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “So the process is called imping. Essentially what we’re going to do is take the old feathers and snip them off of the owl, the damaged ones, and then we’re going to line up, measure and put on the new feathers by inserting a bridge and gluing them back on.”

[Sanctuary staff imping the owl]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “We are going to imp a whole set of primary feathers, all of his tail feathers, send him up to a flight cage where we’re going to flight test him and measure his sound to make sure he is flying silently.”

[Sanctuary staff imping the owl]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “We came back a few hours later, double-checked sound to make sure he is still flying silently. And once we got the clear on that, we were ready to release this guy.”

[Sanctuary staff member removing covering from owl following surgery and before test flight]

[A decibel meter to measure the sound of the owl’s wingbeat]

[Owl flying in the aviary]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “It feels so, so good. I think my heart finally started beating again. The nervousness was starting to overtake the excitement, but once I saw him fly out that opening in the roof, it just was, it was a sight to see. It was so fun.”

[Owl flying in the aviary]

Bart Richwalski (interview): “I’d love for him to be an owl and disappear into the wilderness, live a great life, eat lots of food, fatten up, have a family one day. But I would love to see him maybe passing one night watching or taking a walk in the woods, but you know, honestly, he should be living his life without us knowing he’s here.”

[Owl flying out of the aviary and into the wild]

[Owl flying out of the aviary and into the wild in slow motion]

[Owl flying away]

This script was provided by The Associated Press.

The related lesson for this video will be published next Wednesday.