RESCUES
Every day is a chance to turn a sad story into a happy one. These are some of our favourites.
Orphaned Hawk Chick
rescue
It was an unusually cold rainy morning when the emergency phone rang. It was the conservation officer from Vernon. He had a very distressed man on the line calling about a 3 week old orphaned red tail hawk chick, whose mother was tragically killed the day before. SORCO volunteers arrived shortly after to find the hawk nest 60 feet atop a pine tree. Using binoculars they could see the chick. A call was placed to the city for assistance but they didn’t have a large bucket truck. With the clock ticking, and knowing the chick had not been fed for a least 12 hours, they knew time was running out.
A local tree company was contacted that said they would help and would be there as soon as possible. A hail storm had come through and was now beating down on the unprotected nest but all that could be done was wait. Eventually the rescue crew arrived, reached the nest, leaned in and pulled the chick to safety. After several months of dedicated care at SORCO “Frankie” was successfully released.
Poisoned Great Horned Owl
rehab
A mother Great Horned Owl was found poisoned and blinded, sitting motionless on a picnic table. She had been catching rodents poisoned by a local RV park. She had been eating the mice, and feeding the poisoned food to her babies. Her two chicks were in a tree nearby almost starved to death because they hadn’t been fed by their mom for three days. All were rescued and taken to SORCO.
The following days were very critical to the birds’ survival and they were carefully hand-fed food injected with a powerful poison antidote. The volunteers and staff worked tirelessly monitoring and caring for the family. As the days passed, the mother’s sight improved, the chicks slowly recovered and soon they were reunited into a Rehab flight pen. They were fiercely protective of each other. They remained at the facility until they had demonstrated their ability to hunt, feed themselves and prove their flying ability. They were returned back to the wild at a safe and appropriate location.
Wildlife, and pets are at serious risk of getting sick and dying from ingesting rodents that have eaten poison. Predatory wildlife will control rodent problems naturally with no harmful side effects. There is no safe poison!
Bald Eagle Reunited with Mate
release
Wildlife, and pets are at serious risk of getting sick and dying from ingesting rodents that have eaten poison. Predatory wildlife will control rodent problems naturally with no harmful side effects. There is no safe poison!
A mature Bald Eagle remained at SORCO for several months suffering from serious and multiple soft tissue injuries and suspected concussion. Eventually with much patience and care, the Eagle completely recovered and was ready to be released.
Eagles mate for life so the release location was in close proximity to where it was found. The public were invited to attend the release.
The Eagle was transported in a large pet cage which was then placed on the roof of a vehicle. The door was opened and after a short while it left the cage and flew to a nearby tree, where it perched in the high branches as it familiarized itself to the area.
After several minutes, and with the audience watching, it soared up into the warm air currents circling slowly up into the sky.
All of a sudden from some distance away, another eagle could be seen flying directly toward it. As it approached, the two began a high pitched series of whistling sounds and were soon flying in tandem closely together. His mate had returned after patiently waiting over 5 months. They flew off together, reunited.
Houdini’s Story
Houdini was born in the spring of 2000. When only 3 days old, he was plucked from his nest by crows and fell 50 feet. He had a head injury which resulted in permanent eye, inner ear, and brain damage, and a broken hip.
Splints and bandages had to be wrapped around his tiny frame to hold his broken hip in the proper position so that it would heal. Many times he would manage to tear off his splints and bandages, earning his escape artist name.
Houdini’s hip injury healed ,however his head and eye injuries would not allow him to survive in the wild; so Houdini became the mascot of SORCO.
He is a great ambassador and often travels to schools and community groups on environmental and educational visits.