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Owls recovering at wildlife center in Poconos after tree fall

A mother screech owl and one of her babies are recovering at a wildlife center in Monroe County after the tree they were living in fell.

MONROE COUNTY, Pa. — A log now sits in an enclosure at The Wilderz at Pocono Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center near Stroudsburg. 

It used to be a part of a tree a mother screech owl and her babies called home before the tree fell over. 

That's when the wildlife center received the call asking for help. 

"They found deceased babies, and they found a live baby, and then they started looking for the mother, and they found the mother inside the dead whole of the dead tree, but there was no way of reaching her. So they literally took a chainsaw and cut either end and brought that part of the tree, a small portion of the tree with them with the one baby that had survived," said Kathy Uhler, director of educational programming at The Wilderz. 

The only surviving baby owl is recovering with an orphaned screech owl who was already at the center. 

Its mother is staying in a separate cage, receiving care for a severe head injury. 

"The biggest problem she had coming in was obviously stress," Uhler said. "I mean, she had a concussion from falling, and then being chainsawed around is pretty stressful for an adult owl. She's getting through most of the stress now. It's just a matter of getting her wits back about her."

Wildlife experts say the hope is to eventually reunite mom, her baby, and the orphaned screech owl back with the log they called home.  

Once the mother heals, the next step is training the birds to hunt for prey. 

"Its instinct is to hunt, but they still need to gather skill. So if we throw a bird up and just toss it into the air, that's a predator. That isn't right, so we have to make sure they know how to hunt," Uhler said. 

The center is accepting donations to help with medicine and food the owls will need to get stronger and healthier. 

If you would like to donate to The Wilderz at Pocono Wildlife, click here.

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