WSU to Release Great Horned Owl in Time for Mating Season

PULLMAN, Wash.– After weeks of treatment at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, a great horned owl will be released back into the wild just in time to pair up for mating season.

Conant, as she is nicknamed, is returning to the skies of West Spokane Thursday (Dec. 29). Under federal wildlife law, the owl must be released near the area where it was found.

The great horned owl was discovered near an airport runway on Hayford Road.  Tracy Conant, founder of Pampered Parrot Rescue, received a call from a couple who lives near the airport saying they had found the owl; they believed that it had fallen from a tree in their yard.  Experts from WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine were contacted and brought the owl to Pullman. 

X-rays revealed the owl had suffered an ulnar fracture that was healing, yet was still preventing the bird from flying or feeding itself.  The ulna is a wing bone corresponding to the outside bone in a human forearm.  Weeks of care brought Conant back to health and made her ready to fend for herself.

 “This is a critical time to have the owl returned to the wild,” said Dr. Nikol Finch, the veterinarian in charge of zoological medicine services at WSU’s veterinary teaching hospital.  “Great horned owls are just beginning their mating rituals and pairing up in time for the breeding season that traditionally starts around Valentine’s Day.”

Support for the WSU’s raptor rehabilitation services comes from donations to the program.  Recently, the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine launched an “Adopt-A-Raptor” campaign allowing citizens to sponsor an injured bird and assist with its release.  For more information, see www.vetmed.wsu.edu.

MEDIA ADVISORY:  The release will occur on Hayford Road in West Spokane in an area near where the owl was originally discovered.  Tracy Conant will attend the release, and is open to speaking with media representatives.  Complete release location information will be available Thursday by calling Darin Watkins at (509) 335-4456.