Paying attention to our surroundings not only keeps us safe but also allows us to look out for one another. Of course, this includes critters that could really use our help. This mindset is what allowed fisherman and photographer Mike Loughran to spot an injured owl on the side of the road. The feathered creature had become stuck on a barbed wire fence, but luckily, the kind man quickly got out of his car to help it.
Loughran shared a video of the incident on social media. In the clip, he notices the bird and, after realizing it is alive, springs into action. At first, the bird cries in pain as the man tries to free it from the wire, to which the photographer calmly responds, “I know, I’m trying to help you.” Once Loughran freed the owl, he placed it on the ground, giving it a chance to fly away.
Sadly, the owl was unable to take off, prompting Loughran to take matters into his own hands–especially because the bird had some blood on its wing. “Being unable to fly and with an open wound, it needed some medical attention. Even with an un-broken [sic] wing, it would be very prone to infection,” he writes on Instagram. The photographer bundled him up in a blanket and buckled him up to the passenger seat of his van. The pair then drove down to the Houston SPCA, where Loughran was told that the owl was expected to make a full recovery.
“Always keep your eyes out for wildlife in need of help; most of the time, they will be fine without human intervention, but in times like this, it is much needed,” Loughran concludes. “This owl had to have been on that fence for at least 6-10 hours. This was mid-day, and it probably flew into the fence overnight. Lots of people must have driven by without seeing it or thinking it was already dead. I always check, and this is a perfect example of why.”
Watch photographer Mike Loughran rescue an owl stuck in a barbed wire fence and drive it to the SPCA to get medical care.
Mike Loughran: Instagram | YouTube | TikTok
Source: Saved an injured owl (pt.1); Saved an owl (part 2)
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