An injured barred owl is back home after volunteers from the Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota released it back into the wild Thursday afternoon at the Jay C. Hormel Nature Center.
It took a few minutes for the owl to leave the pet carrier, but when it did it was to the joy of those who gathered to watch the moment.
“This is a feel good story of our year,” said Kelly Bahl, Nature Center outreach naturalist and teacher. “It’s the reason the Nature Center does what we do.”
When it finally took flight, the owl perched on a branch not far from the group and surveyed its home before flying off short ways to another branch where it was finally left to acclimate to being back home.
The owl was found injured on Nov. 18, 2023, by someone out walking the trails at the Nature Center and was secured by volunteer Thaw Stuhr. Being able to get it wrapped up was an indication of how badly injured the raptor was.
“Someone was just walking the trail and saw it hopping along,” Bahl said. “It had been wrangled already so we knew it was a severe injury.”