Subject: [Tweeters] Sarvey's response to "12-hr. rule" - 11/16/12
Date: Nov 17 10:54:23 2012
From: Barbara Deihl - barbdeihl at comcast.net


After writing to Sarvey Wildlife Ctr. to voice my and other birders' concerns over what we had heard about their policy about 'rescuing' any Snowy Owl seen in the same place for 12 hours or more, I got this response back from them last night and thought I'd post it here on Tweeters, as it apparently is mostly us concerned birders who are looking for clarification and possibly a change of policy. At the very least, this may help some of us which course of action or inaction to take if we should be lucky enough to come upon a Snowy that we see or find out, has been in the same spot for hours.

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The message from Suzanne West, Executive Director, Sarvey Wildlife Care Center:

Hello Barbara,

Thank you so much for writing. We have had some inquiries about the owl but yours is the first message that indicated there was any issue we needed to address publicly. Please be assured we have NO such policy. We do not have any policies or procedures that put a time limit on what is in need of a "rescue". I was not present at the site on Capitol Hill and therefore can only speculate what happened.

I have spoken to many of my staff, including the person who rescued this snowy. None of us have any idea what that particular quote was about, maybe he made a comment about the owl having been spotted on the ground for 12 hours and it ended up lost in translation or something. We all agreed that all animal "rescues" are on a case by case situation. Kestrel, our Education Director teaches a class and focuses on this with her education team, just how to evaluate whether or not the animal needs help.

I addressed this case with Will to clarify and he said that the owl was reported down on the ground and had been seen in the same place the night before. The next day it was still there in the general area standing on its "dinner". Will said that he tried to get it to fly off and it could not lift, sounds like it just barely got off the ground. He checked its wings, they appeared fine but the tail was not responding properly. He said he checked its weight and it was very thin/emaciated. He thought maybe something was wrong with the spine. Our medical supervisor took x-rays and they have not indicated any serious damage to the spine, good news! The staff have rehydrated her and she is now eating. We plan to get her weight up a bit, move her outside (her tail is just starting to respond now) to a flight and see how and if she can fly. We hope that she will make a quick recovery and can be release very soon.

I will try to reach out to the Capitol Hill Blog people for a clarification and correction. If you have any way to alleviate the concerns others have about the Capitol Hill owl rescue, we would appreciate your assistance. I cannot speak at all to the rescue of the other snowy that is mentioned in Pt Townsend as that was not our organization. Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns that I did not address.


Suzanne West
Executive Director
Sarvey Wildlife Care Center

website: www.sarveywildlife.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Sarvey-Wildlife-Care-Center/250767444292

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Thanks to Dan, Kelly Mc, Bud, Dennis, Ray, Kelly S, Greg and all other Tweets whose communications helped me determine that a note to Sarvey might be helpful to all of us this winter as we witness yet another special Snowy event and try to sort out whether or not our own actions can be beneficial to these splendid visitors.


Barb Deihl

North Matthews Beach - NE Seattle

barbdeihl at comcast.net






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