A rare Tasmanian masked owl has been rescued in a joint effort between a builder, roof painter and wildlife rescuer after it was spotted stuck on a roof.
On closer investigation, wildlife rescuers from Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary found the owl’s talons had become caught in wire mesh covering the roof gutter and it was unable to free itself over last weekend.
Director of Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary Greg Irons said it was lucky the resident spotted the owl given the roof is 8 metres high.
“It’s just a really unfortunate sort of incident, thankfully he saw it quickly because it’s not often you go outside and look at your gutter.
“For him to see it up there was a huge advantage because if that bird ends up hanging by its leg … it’s basically toast.
“This is where time becomes such a critical factor.”
Team effort gets the result
The rescue was complicated, with the height of the building making safety a concern.
Coincidently, the resident who called the wildlife rescue was a builder, experienced in scaling roofs, however without safety equipment and the potential danger of the owl’s talons, it was decided he should not attempt to conduct the rescue alone.
Hobart roof painter Vincent Esposito was called for assistance, using his roof painting equipment and skills to assist the builder in freeing the bird from the mesh.
“He (Vincent) could get the safety equipment so the builder could then contain the bird with a bit of guidance,” Mr Irons said.
“This is what I love about Tassie, so often you know someone you can call, and so rarely do you call someone to help and they’re not there to help you.
“To have that bird being rescued within an hour of being seen was just an extraordinary result,” he said.
Owl on the mend
The owl was taken to Bonorong’s animal hospital where he was assessed by the specialist veterinary team, who named it Idun.
The owl was dehydrated and exhausted from the ordeal but had not suffered severe injuries.
After examining the owl under anaesthetic, specialists found it had suffered some soft tissue trauma and inflammation of the foot which was entangled.
Idun is now with a specialist raptor rehabilitator who will monitor the bird until it is strong enough to be released near where it was found.
“Masked owls mate for life, so it will be good to get him back out where he was found … it’s good to get them out as soon as we can,” Mr Irons said.
Learning from the thylacine
Tasmanian masked owls are an endangered species endemic to Tasmania, with an estimated 500 breeding pairs believed to remain in the wild.
Mr Irons said the main threats to the species are caused by humans, including the clearing of habitat, secondary poisoning, and attacks from both feral and domestic cats.
“We would see a handful a year, probably at least five a year. There’s not that many out there so that’s quite an alarming percentage,” he said.
Mr Irons encouraged people to take action to protect wildlife, such as reducing night-time driving, keeping cats inside, and avoiding plastic products.
“Ninety-seven per cent of calls we receive are caused by us … people. So, we need to get serious. When we look at numbers like this, endangered masked owl, once they’re gone, they’re gone. We can’t keep pushing it as much as we are.
“If we can’t learn from the loss of the Tassie tiger and change what we do there’s no hope,” he said.
Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary provides free online wildlife rescue training for members of the community to learn basic wildlife rescue, transport, and temporary care.
Those who complete the training can join a database of people around Tasmania who can be on-call to aid injured wildlife.
“Everyone can be a wildlife rescuer, people have got a picture in their mind that they have to be fit and experienced, it’s not the case,” Mr Irons said.
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