Great Horned Owl Rescued After Getting Tangled In Fishing Line
JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - A great horned owl that became entangled in some fishing line got a helping hand from West Metro Fire Rescue and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials on Thursday. The owl was found was at Harriman Lake Park in Jefferson County.
Cell phone video captures the moment responders first reached the bird. West Metro firefighters, Wesley Percefull and Michael Brouillette approached it from the bucket of a ladder truck alongside CPW Officer, Jerry Mckee.
"Thanks to a helping hand from [West Metro Fire], we rescued this great horned owl this morning," CPW tweeted. "She had soft tissue damage after being entangled by fishing line."
"I've been on for 22 years so there's a lot of strange calls that i've been on this is probably one of the first where I've had to rescue an owl." Said Brouillette.
It's same case for Percefull. With six years of experience under his belt and many unique calls, this was a first.
"I was excited about it because I was like- okay cool she's not hung up that bad," said Percefull.
Both call it an unfortunate but preventable accident and hope it causes anglers to be more mindful about where they cast.
"...and understand that even our presence has an effect and in this case it was nesting owls, a mother and father owl and had little owlettes. Luckily today had a good outcome," said Brouillette.
"In this particular case the fishing line was up in a tree," officials said.
Officials said the owl was taken to Birds of Prey Colorado to be checked out. They won't know the full extent of the damage for a couple weeks.
"They will treat with anti-inflammatory and let her rest for a couple weeks. She will then be transported to a flight cage so they can see how she does," CPW officials said.
