That One Time I Rescued an Owl
..By calling the professionals to help. I am so excited to put into writing one of the most thrilling adventures of patience, bravery, community-kindness, and the huge effort put together by the Bellingham Police Department and the Whatcom Humane Society’s Animal Control & Rescue and Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
It was Fall in 2021, I was driving home after a rehearsal so it was dark out. I was driving up our hill to go home in the Barkley area — Back then it was wayyy more forest and woodsy than it is today and a truck was coming down the hill when all of a sudden a spiral of transluent feathers rush in front of the trucks head lights. I was absolutely bewildered and drove home to my husband. I described what I had seen and couldn’t shake the feeling that massive bird was still there or worse dead.
Not really knowing what we were going to do about any of the outcomes we jumped in our car and drove the 90-seconds back to the scene and sure enough sitting perfectly in the middle of the road was a beautiful Barred Owl. It was a tricky spot in a blind corner of a dark hill with sparse street lights but we were determined to make sure no one hit it. I called 911 not sure who else to call. In that time I was on the phone, we had two other community members stop to see if they could do anything to help. One was a painter with massive ladders on his car who offered help but we said we were already calling for help and another five minutes later a guy in white cowboy boots stopped to help, more on him shortly.
So, I’m on the phone with dispatch who connected me with Whatcom Humane Society’s Animal Control & Rescue, who now have their own contact in my phone — I call them whenever I see wildlife needing help (this number is for wildlife (360) 966-8845), dead birds in public places, lost looking pets, they are wonderful humans and will coordinate or at least route you to the responsible parties if it’s not them. Truly wonderful humans. And I make my report of the owl in the middle of the road being both in danger and a hazard to drivers. One driver we tried to flag down to go around the bird actually drove right into the poor thing and knocked it over, a splutter of feather but the Owl stood back up like an inflatable punching bag.
There wasn’t much we could do but wait. But now we were nervous.
Cue the Cowboy Boots guy. He was determined to get it out of the road. We didn’t have much other than a towel in our own car to offer and with great care he ushered the Owl who really didn’t want to move to the side of the road. The owl, annoyed by us, flew clumsily into the branches of a small tree that was off to the side of the road. I remember we all cheered. Cowboy Boots gave us our towel and drove away. Our Painter friend also returned saying he couldn’t stop thinking about the owl, we told him it was in a tree now and he seemed relieved and took his leave as well.
We stood there and watched the Owl from a distance but it still didn’t look to great. Dazed and confused to say the least. I called the Wildlife number to report we can nudged the bird and its new location was the tree. A decent amount of time had past and it was pretty cold so we headed home.
I was bummed I didn’t get to stay to see Animal Control come rescue the bird. For hours after I had to resist returning to the scene. Then a few days later… I saw this post appear…
That was our owl! I couldn’t believe it. I remember messaging the Whatcom Humane Society’s Facebook page to really figure out if that was our owl and the dates and stories lined up. I was so thrilled.
I don’t know what happened to the Cowboy Boots guy we never exchanged contact info but his kindness and the Painter really showcased to me how much our community cares. Plus the helpful 911 Operator, the dedication of Animal Control who I had several calls from me to them and them to me all to help this Owl.
I searched their page for if there was an update about this owl, I can’t find the post, but I do think they shared this owl was released and had made a full recovery.
In Summary ~ Everyone has a home in Bellingham from Bird to Bay!After this event, I now carry road-flares in my car, have Whatcom Humane Society’s Animal Control and Wildlife as contacts in my phone and I think the last thing I need is a High-Viz vest and I’m set.
In my dream land, when my husband and I have the means to purchase a house, I want there to be a spare room so we can foster cats to help alleviate the Whatcom Humane Society’s load.
Till then, after my student loans are paid off, any transaction or referral I accomplish in real estate I know I’ll be donating funds to WHS because I believe every animal deserves a home and the team at WHS has helped us find our furry friend and several of my family members’ have adopted from that shelter.
An owl-ly Hoo-Hoo-Hooray for this old story that remains fresh and dear to my heart.
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