I've been a busy Owl this week!

We had our annual Christmas decorating party and pot luck with the Volunteers at the Center.  A little disappointing in the turnout, but we still had a great time decorating and getting together outside of the animal care world. 

And to help us out, Mother Nature sent us some snow! Can you believe it?  Snow, in Alabama, in December!  It wasn't much, but definately helps in getting in the Christmas mood. 

It was a huge success! All the proceeds from the sale went directly to the Alabama Wildlife Center.

Thanks to everyone's donationed crafted and baked goods. 

A special thanks to all the hard working volunteers who came in to donate their time to pull off this annual event.  Your continued support means so much to the wild animals we care for (and to me)!

Now the final reason I've been busy this week.....I'm a MOM!

Well, sort of.  I'm currently the mother of 2 baby Barn Owls.

 

They were kidnapped from their parents from a Shooting stand in rural Alabama, kept for 3 days and fed chicken.  Thats your basic Raptor kidnapping story.  And people just don't realize how detrimental that is to these guys.  Birds of prey grow soooooo fast and a few days of raw chicken and being handfed by a human could mean death to the little one.  They MUST have a whole animal diet.  (not some raw greasey chicken that was probably injected with all kinds of hormones and such) And if they open their eyes for the first time and see a human constantly feeding it, they will imprinted on humans and not be releasable back to the wild.

And its a Federal offense.
So I've been getting up twice a night for the past week feeding these guys and taking them in to the Center with me and bringing them home with me.  The next 2 nights, I'm getting a break because they're at the

Owl-Sitter. 

This is all the mother I really ever want to be.  I don't see how people survive years of this!  This almost killed me last year when I had a hatchling to take care of.  These guys will soon be on whole mice (yes, I have to wake up at 12 am and 4am and cut up mice for them.  Its nature, and thats what they NEED to survive) and I'll be able to leave them at the Center overnight.

In spite of all the tiredness and cutting up mice in the middle of the night and worry, I'm so glad I have the priviledge to do this as my career.  I just can't imagine myself doing anything else.  I would be miserable.

I'm so glad to be doing something useful in this world and making a difference for wildlife.

Before seeing Babies first pellet!

Don't forget! Tomorrow is Owly Monday!