Great horned owl donated to zoo

Gary Landers hands "Sweetie Pie" over to Cathi Wright of the Oregon Zoo. photo by Jim Cornelius The great horned owl was feeding on road kill on Century Drive when the passing car struck the bird, breaking it's wing, tearing the iris of the right eye and giving the owl a concussion.

Picked up by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife personnel, the bird found a temporary home at the only facility licensed to rehabilitate birds of prey in Central Oregon -- Gary Landers' facility in Sisters.

On Friday, June 25, the owl, now physically recovered, was transferred to a permanent home at the Oregon Zoo in Portland, where the owl now known as "Sweetie Pie" will be used to educate children about birds of prey.

That is an unusual fate for the birds Landers rehabilitates. His work is designed to prepare raptors to return to the wild. Most do, with surgical assistance from Little Liedblad of Broken Top Veterinary in Sisters and with patient work by Landers getting the birds fit to fly and hunt again.

But Sweetie Pie couldn't make it in the wild. Although surgery repaired the split bones in her right wing and her injured eye healed, an important element of her recovery just never happened.

"The concussion healed, but she just never mentally recovered," Landers said.

The great horned owl, one of natures greatest predators, had become docile, completely non-aggressive.

"I tried getting her to hit live prey," Landers said. "She will come down and pick up dead prey; she will not come down and kill something. That, of course, is a death sentence in the wild."

That docility, however, makes Sweetie Pie a perfect "education bird" for the zoo.

Cathi Wright, who picked the owl up at Landers' facility, said that the zoo had recently lost a beloved education owl named "Hooter."

"He just keeled over with a heart attack this spring," she said.

When Landers contacted the zoo hoping to find a home for Sweetie Pie, the zoo jumped at the opportunity.

Since Sweetie Pie is only about three years old or so and great horned owls live about 30 years, she has a long career ahead of her.

Landers, in his first year as a fully-operating rehabilitation specialist, is on track to rehab 60 raptors this year.

Landers' is the only such facility in the region, in part because it takes a lot of training and permit work to be licensed by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the federal government.

It is also expensive, which is one reason that surgical resources like Broken Top Veterinary's are so critical. Landers noted that Dr. Liedblad and her staff donate their time and skills for this vital work.

Landers also emphasized that he is a raptors-only operation.

"We don't do songbirds or water fowl," he said. "And there's a great need to rehab songbirds and waterfowl."

For more information on becoming a rehabilitator, call Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at 388-6363.