Hospital owl makes it to final home in Oregon Zoo

The barred owl rescued by staff members at McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in February, has reached its new permanent home in the northwestern U.S.

The owl was named Hooter by hospital staffers Steve Schnieckert and Don Kittrell, who found it and tried to nurse it back to health, but Zookeeper Kristina Smith, with the Oregon Zoo in Portland, Ore., said the owl will get a new name soon.

“We didn’t keep Hooter because we’ve already had several owls named Hooter and we wanted to avoid confusion,” Smith said. “I’m not sure if we’re going to find out the gender of the owl. Maybe the next time we have it in hand for an examination or veterinary procedure we might find out the gender, but for now we’re just trying to get it settled in so we’re not messing with it much.”

Smith said the owl arrived in Oregon in mid-May and after a 30-day quarrentine period, was put on display in an exhibit showing the environment in the Cascade Mountains in the zoo’s Great Northwest area.

Smith said barred owls are displacing the endangered spotted owl in the mountains of the northwest so having the owl from Carthage at their zoo helps zookeepers tell the story of the evolution of life in the northwest.

Schnieckert found the owl sitting on the side of the outer road just south of McCune-Brooks hospital in February. Schnieckert said the owl had apparently been standing in one place for some time because it had frost on its feathers.

Schnieckert and Kittrell contacted the Missouri Department of Conservation and began feeding it field mice that Kittrell caught either at his farm or in the field behind the hospital.

The two built the owl a perch and a birdhouse and set them up in the hospital’s courtyard where it became a source of entertainment for patients.

Eventually the owl took off and flew to the hospital roof. When Kittrell went to the roof to get it, the bird took off again, but when it tried to land, it didn’t land in a tree like owls normally do. It tried to land on the ground but it hit the ground and rolled several times.

At that time, Kittrell and Schnieckert contacted the Department of Conservation once again and an agent took the owl to Dickerson Park Zoo where a veterinarian determined that it had suffered some kind of trauma, possibly from hitting the windshield of a car, and been rendered mostly blind.

Smith said in the three weeks she’s worked with the owl, she’s determined that it can probably see some shades of light and dark, but it is still impaired.

“I think she can see some things,” Smith said. “She orients toward things. When I put her food down, she looks toward it. It appears she can see that it’s there because she goes straight for it. I think she can see some things, but we’re just not sure how much. There’s definitely some sight there.”

Smith said the owl will live in an enclosure that simulates the forests of the Cascade Mountains.

“It’s doing good,” Smith said. “It’s eating well and seems to be adjusting well and starting to learn how the exhibit is arranged. She’s memorizing how to get from one place to another and perching. She’s actually doing a lot better than I expected considering she’s impaired.”