From NM Wildlife Center

Most of the animals we admit to our hospital come to us because they have encountered one of the many anthropogenic, or human-caused, dangers in the wild. Great Horned Owl 24-910 is no exception: this bird suffered multiple injuries to his wings when he collided with a barbed wire fence. Barbed wire is dangerous to a lot of animals, but owls are especially susceptible. Most owls hunt in the dark or in very low light, and they fly low to the ground as they swoop down to catch their prey. A barbed wire fence can be nearly invisible in the dark and just the right height to snare a raptor as they fly down to catch their dinner.

The fence caused injuries to both of 24-910’s wings. Since so much skin was damaged at the injury sites, it was not possible to simply sew the holes closed. Instead, Dr. Avery - with assistance from Wildlife Rehabilitation Manager Stephanie - carefully removed some healthy skin from an uninjured area near the owl’s leg, sutured that area closed, and used the skin graft to patch one of the barbed wire injuries on 24-910’s wing! The other injuries were patched in a similar way using a hydrocolloid wound dressing instead of a skin graft.

Just a few days after surgery, the skin graft site is healing well and so are the barbed wire injuries on 24-910’s wings! The final photo in this series shows the area where the graft was applied and was taken just 4 days after surgery. Barbed wire injuries can be complex to treat and can involve damage to tendons, nerves, and other important structures, but so far we are pleased with 24-910’s progress. As you can see in the first photo, this patient definitely still has the fierce attitude of a Great Horned Owl, which is a great sign!

I’ll spare you guys the pokey pictures, but the recovery one was too good. The graft looked to be healing very well though, as they mentioned.

  • Optional@lemmy.world
    5·
    3 days ago

    Score, Dr. Avery! (And Wildlife Manager Stephanie, of course)

    NM Wildlife Center please get on the Owliverse! I mean Fediverse.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      7·
      3 days ago

      Speaking of doctor shout outs, I didn’t think it was enough for a post, but I remember @homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world had expressed interest in the teams taking care of Oz, the rare Pennsylvania Long Eared Owl with a broken wing. He is still doing well!

      Oz update. 🥰
      Oz is recovering well. 🙂
      He will be going back to Radnor Veterinary Hospital Friday for a recheck. Oz will likely be with us for a couple of months to assure the best possible release back into the wild.

    • anon6789@lemmy.worldOP
      5·
      3 days ago

      They did an amazing job! That fence really swiss cheesed this unlucky hooter.

      I didn’t see an update on it yet, but I was curious about the duct tape. Thankfully that was answered in an adjacent post on another bird:

      Bald Eagle 24-933 was admitted to our hospital over the weekend with open fractures of her right carpometacarpus, a bone near the distal end of the wing that is the avian version of the bones humans have in our hands. This injury was preventing her from flying and hunting, and she was very underweight and dehydrated when she arrived. Even in her debilitated state, though, 24-933 weighed more than our healthy Bald Eagle Ambassador Animal, Olivia, and now that 24-933 has begun eating again and putting on weight, we are all amazed by how enormous this bird is!

      24-933 will be undergoing surgery this week now that she is stable enough for our veterinarian to attempt this tricky repair. In the meantime, the fracture is stabilized with a splint and a wing wrap, which you can see in this photo. The tabs of duct tape are only touching the bandages, not her feathers, and they give 24-933 something to pick at that will still keep the wrap fully intact! If you take a closer look at the tabs on the front edge of her wing, you can see some little bite marks on one of them…but the structure of the wrap itself is still untouched!

      A wing wrap this large requires a lot of bandaging material, and we would love to receive donations of some of the supplies on our hospital wish list. We’ve moved some of the items that this Bald Eagle requires- Tegaderm rolls, vet wrap, Durapore silk tape, SAM splint material - to the top of our list to make them easy to find! You can find our hospital’s Amazon wish list here.