Divine Intervention

I do believe in God, prayer and yes, miracles.  This past weekend I was given a miracle and I wanted to share it with all of you.

Education is a very important part of my rehabilitation work so I do a lot of programs, especially in the summer months at campgrounds.  Often if people just have the right information human and wildlife issues can be avoided.  This past weekend we were at Paradise Lake Park in East Rochester, Ohio holding such a program.

On Saturday I gathered all of the animals and put them in their pet taxis to travel to the building where the program was to be held.  The only thing left for me to do was to tether the leg jesses on Mighty Moe, our Screech Owl.  Normally, when leaving for a program and coming back the same day, I do this before I leave the facility. However, when we will be gone for a couple of days, such as a weekend program, I wait until just before I leave for the program to put the jesses on so that the birds aren’t uncomfortable the entire time.

I reached into the crate to take Mighty Moe out and hooked the tether to one jess, I was in the process of hooking the other when he flew up and the jess that was hooked, split and he flew off!! My heart stopped. I watched as he flew around the motor home and by the time I got to the front of it he was nowhere in sight.  I was sick.  He is fully flighted but is vision impaired with no depth perception. This means that he would be unable to get away from prey or to kill for his food.  I knew if I didn’t get him back he would fall prey to another owl or starve to death.

I had only a short time before the 2:00 pm program was about to begin so I used my time to look and listen. The trees where we were at needed to be trimmed badly, so it made it terribly hard to see into the trees.  The sounds that I was listening for were distress signals from other birds alerting each other that a predator was in the area.  But I heard nothing, not a sound, not a sighting.  That program was the hardest program I have ever done because my mind was on Mighty Moe.  At the end of the program I made the announcement what had happened.  I could not believe it but at least half of the campers made it their mission to look for him.  Everyone I saw had their heads turned to the sky.  Every time they ran into me they wanted to know if I had found him yet.  The answer was always the same, sadly no.

I knew he would be getting hungry so I laid 3 dead mice on the picnic table before heading to bed.  Only there was no sleep for me that night.  In the morning, I checked on the dead mice, hoping they had been eaten but unbelievably the mice were still on the picnic table, raccoon and opossum didn’t even touch them. To say I was distraught was an understatement.  I was sure he would never be found.  He now had his freedom again and it would take a miracle for me to get him back.  Still not wanting to give up, I made up a reward flyer and after breakfast I walked Lucy, our German Shepherd, up to the camp office to tape the flyer up.  It was a long walk and the entire way there I was listening. Listening for the distress sound of birds. Still nothing. I just couldn’t believe it. Where did he go?

I placed the sign up at the office and headed back to our camper. That’s when I heard the sound I had been listening for since Mighty Moe flew away.  It was a Robin alert, then a second one, a third one and then a Cardinal joined in. I knew in my heart it had to be Might Moe.  When we arrived at the spot all the distress vocalizations were going on, the area was heavy with thickets.  The birds were above the thickets, darting around, calling in other birds.  I got down close to the ground and looked into the thickets and sure enough there he was.  He was trying to escape the birds assault by running and hopping through the thickets.  I told Lucy to sit and stay.  I ran out and around the thickets to get above where he was, I did not want him to make it to the woods.

I got on the ground and crawled through those thickets as fast as I could.  When he saw me, he turned and headed the other direction.  I was in hot pursuit!  When he reached the grassy clearing he put his wings out to fly.  I was not about to let that happen!  I took a leap forward and prayed just as he left the ground to take off.  My prayers were answered because by some miracle I caught a jess and held on tight!  To say  Mighty Moe was mad as a hornet is an understatement.  His eyes were locked onto mine and his mouth was openly hissing at me, if looks could kill I’d be dead! HA!

I was covered in scratches and was pulling thorns out of me all the way back to the camper and as I did, I was saying my thank you’s to God for letting me find and capture him.  Word spread like wildfire through the camp that I caught him and needless to say, he had a lot of visitors that day.

I told him that I hoped he partied hardy because that opportunity will never happen again.  This happened July 7th, I caught him July 8th and July 9th was my birthday.  I feel to get him back was nothing short of a miracle and an early birthday present.  I have been rehabilitating wildlife for 55 years and have never had an animal get away from me.  I can now check that off of my things to experience.

I am so thankful to have him back and I am need to say THANK YOU to every person that was praying and looking for him.  I am truly grateful.

Copyright 2018 Fran Kitchen

Operation Orphan Wildlife Rehabilitation, Inc. is a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Organization and does not receive federal funding.  We are supported entirely through private donations, memberships, and proceeds from our education programs. To Donate visit our website at: operationorphanwildlife.com