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A visitor to the courtyard of McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage is causing quite a hoot among staff and patients.
In fact her name is Hooter and she's a barred owl.
Hospital grounds keeper Don Kittrell has been caring for the owl since Hospital Staffer Steve Schneickert found it by the side of the road on his way to work a little more than two weeks ago.
Kittrell built a perch and a box for the owl in the hospital courtyard, but he said the bird's stay at the hospital might be coming to an end sometime this week.
Kittrell said the owl took off on its longest flight yet overnight Monday and Tuesday landing first on the roof of the hospital, then taking off into the fields west and north of the building.
"She's able to fly but her landings suck," Kittrell said Tuesday with a laugh. "I'm going to call the Department of Conservation today and let them take her to a raptor rehabilitation center in Springfield. Hopefully they can get her to the point where she can be released, but if not maybe she can help educate children and others about owls and other raptors.
"That's been my goal all along and that's why we're here as a hospital to make things better."
Kittrell said now that he's observed the owl for a couple of weeks, he believes it's either a young bird or one that lived in captivity for a time.
He said he lets her eat field mice he catches from fields around his home and around the hospital.
He traps the mice and brings them to her alive and lets her to catch them like she would if she were in the wild.
Kittrell said when he found the owl, it was just sitting on the side of the road. It had frost on its back and did not attempt to fly off when he covered it with a towel and carried it back to the hospital in a box.
Kittrell said he and Schneickert at first wondered if a vehicle had hit the bird by flying low over the road.
The x-ray technicians at the hospital x-rayed the bird and Kittrell consulted with a veterinarian, but they could find no sign of injury.
"We picked her up to bring her to the hospital to find the proper place to take her," Kittrell said in an email to the hospital staff. "I have contacted the Missouri Conservation Department for assistance and guidance on the proper actions to be taken. As long as we don't harass, upset, bother or confine the owl, she is free to stay here with us. The conservation department has requested she be disturbed as little as possible and to avoid contact with humans. She will however be taken inside from time to time to check on her progress."
A visitor to the courtyard of McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage is causing quite a hoot among staff and patients.
In fact her name is Hooter and she's a barred owl.
Hospital grounds keeper Don Kittrell has been caring for the owl since Hospital Staffer Steve Schneickert found it by the side of the road on his way to work a little more than two weeks ago.
Kittrell built a perch and a box for the owl in the hospital courtyard, but he said the bird's stay at the hospital might be coming to an end sometime this week.
Kittrell said the owl took off on its longest flight yet overnight Monday and Tuesday landing first on the roof of the hospital, then taking off into the fields west and north of the building.
"She's able to fly but her landings suck," Kittrell said Tuesday with a laugh. "I'm going to call the Department of Conservation today and let them take her to a raptor rehabilitation center in Springfield. Hopefully they can get her to the point where she can be released, but if not maybe she can help educate children and others about owls and other raptors.
"That's been my goal all along and that's why we're here as a hospital to make things better."
Kittrell said now that he's observed the owl for a couple of weeks, he believes it's either a young bird or one that lived in captivity for a time.
He said he lets her eat field mice he catches from fields around his home and around the hospital.
He traps the mice and brings them to her alive and lets her to catch them like she would if she were in the wild.
Kittrell said when he found the owl, it was just sitting on the side of the road. It had frost on its back and did not attempt to fly off when he covered it with a towel and carried it back to the hospital in a box.
Kittrell said he and Schneickert at first wondered if a vehicle had hit the bird by flying low over the road.
The x-ray technicians at the hospital x-rayed the bird and Kittrell consulted with a veterinarian, but they could find no sign of injury.
"We picked her up to bring her to the hospital to find the proper place to take her," Kittrell said in an email to the hospital staff. "I have contacted the Missouri Conservation Department for assistance and guidance on the proper actions to be taken. As long as we don't harass, upset, bother or confine the owl, she is free to stay here with us. The conservation department has requested she be disturbed as little as possible and to avoid contact with humans. She will however be taken inside from time to time to check on her progress."
