Adult Great Horned Owl for Placement

Home / Job Postings and Animal Placement / Adult Great Horned Owl for Placement

Click to enlarge image.

Contact Information
Contact Kelsey Castrogiovanni
Phone: 508-929-2764

Country: United States

Species: Great Horned Owl/ Bubo virginianus

Is rehabilitation complete?: yes

This animal has potential as a : static display animal

This animal is: wild reared

Age: Adult

Reason for entering rehabilitation.:

Car strike with minor eye damage, due to the age at the time of rescue he was partially imprinted. He does not behave like his vision is overly impaired.

Days in care: 1500

Issues developed while undergoing rehabilitation.:

N/A

Body condition score (5 point scale as defined on https://nagonline.net/3877/body-condition-scoring/): 3

Can the animal express species-typical behaviors (e.g. eat appropriate whole foods, climb, perch, groom, dig, fly, swim, ambulate normally for species)?:

Yes, he is able to fly, perch, eat, groom, and ambulate normally.

Can the animal be handled without negative welfare affects?: no

This is how the animal currently reacts when a frequent caregiver nears it (e.g. does it modify behavior, show signs of fear, agonism, habituation):

Agonism/Fear; moves away from caregivers, will swoop at caregivers if he feels they are too close. He can be netted and handled for short periods of time to assess foot, talon, beak, feather, and body condition. He will not willingly come to caregivers.

This is how the animal currently reacts when a stranger nears it (e.g. does it modify behavior, show signs of fear, agonism, habituation):

Habituation, does not show signs of fear with visitors outside the enclosure.

This animal is currently house : alone

Will the animal need continuous medical care (e.g. medication)?: no

Physical health welfare assessment: life worth living

Mental/emotional health welfare assessment: life worth living

More Information

I am reaching out to see if anyone has a good space for this owl. He is a partial imprint and has been under human care for several years, he is currently 9+ years old. He is physically healthy and fully able to express all natural behaviors. Due to being a partial imprint he is not friendly or overly comfortable with humans. In my opinion, he has a life worth living in the proper environment. He has a fairly large flight initiation distance and needs a large enclosure in order to feel comfortable while his caregivers enter the space, a minimum of about 25-30' of distance seems to be preferred by him. If caregivers enter a space where he does not feel he has enough distance he will swoop at caregivers' heads. He is very uncomfortable around vehicles and large tools such as mowers and snow blowers. Due to our facility's set up we cannot provide him with a space that fits his needs. He does appear to be comfortable being viewed by visitors so could still make a good static display animal in the right circumstance. I do not know how he would do as a surrogate. He can only be transferred to another USDA permitted facility.

If anyone feels they have a good environment for him please contact me through email at kcastrogiovanni@ecotarium.org

This Ad has been viewed 37 times.