{"id":272934,"date":"2026-02-07T22:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T22:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/272934\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T22:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T22:49:12","slug":"they-thought-this-owl-was-dead-in-a-soccer-net-then-they-saw-a-flutter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/272934\/","title":{"rendered":"They Thought This Owl Was ‘Dead’ In A Soccer Net \u2014 Then They Saw A Flutter"},"content":{"rendered":"

The other day, a homeowner near West End, North Carolina, awoke to an utterly frightening scene in their backyard. A helpless barred owl was splayed out on the grass, and she was fully entangled in the family\u2019s unused soccer net.<\/p>\n

The Good Samaritan couldn\u2019t tell if the owl was still alive, but they wasted no time calling for help. Soon, Salem Wildlife Rescue\u2019s (SWR)<\/a> founder, Jess Reese, pulled up to the home, and what she found worried her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I arrived, I thought she was dead from how she was laying there motionless in such a distorted position,\u201d SWR wrote on Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Facebook\/Salem Wildlife Rescue<\/p>\n

Reese immediately noticed that the owl\u2019s feet were swollen from being bound in the netting, which was also constricting her blood flow. The poor bird was trapped with netting around her neck, wings and the rest of her body \u2014 but Reese suddenly saw a slight flutter that gave her hope.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was alive!\u201d SWR wrote.<\/p>\n

Without skipping a beat, the homeowner gave Reese permission to cut through the soccer net, and a few moments later, the limp bird was free.<\/p>\n

Reese carefully placed the owl into a cage before transporting her to SWR\u2019s headquarters, where she would rest while the team searched for a federally permitted rehabilitator.<\/p>\n

Facebook\/Salem Wildlife Rescue<\/p>\n

While the owl was relatively calm and motionless at the time of her rescue, her feisty personality emerged as soon as she arrived at the rescue.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack at the rescue, she stood up and walked to the corner of the cage, clicking her beak at me and VERY angry!\u201d SWR wrote.<\/p>\n

Reese, elated to see the owl moving around, decided to give her some space to decompress before attempting to remove the last pieces of netting from her body. Then, she gave the owl a thorough exam and determined that, despite her injuries, the sweet girl\u2019s prognosis was good.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some injuries, such as the wounds to her legs\/feet due to the ligatures, but the other rehabber does seem to think, last I heard, that she will make a full recovery!\u201d SWR wrote.<\/p>\n

Unsplash\/sonderquest<\/p>\n

While this owl is far from the first animal whom SWR\u2019s recovered from sports netting, not everyone has the same happy ending. Sadly, it is all too common for animals like owls, rabbits, foxes and deer to become trapped in unused nets \u2014 and in a frantic attempt to break free, the animals often lose their lives.<\/p>\n

These deaths, while random, are avoidable. And the folks at SWR are desperate to get the message across.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis sassy girl is one of the lucky ones who survived the ordeal, but there are many who don\u2019t,\u201d SWR wrote. \u201cPlease put nets away when they aren\u2019t being used, especially overnight!\u201d<\/p>\n

To help wildlife like this owl get the care they need, you can donate to Salem Wildlife Rescue here<\/a>.\"Matted<\/a>Matted Siblings \u2018Cling To Each Other\u2019 After Being Abandoned On Street Corner\u201cThey were so hungry. So hot. So thirsty.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The other day, a homeowner near West End, North Carolina, awoke to an utterly frightening scene in their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":272935,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[52261,1176,1178,111,139,69,147,1177,1175,406,31132,27544],"class_list":{"0":"post-272934","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal-rescue","9":"tag-ashley-ortiz","10":"tag-daily-dodo","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-standard","16":"tag-the-dodo","17":"tag-wildlife","18":"tag-wildlife-encounters","19":"tag-wildlife-rescue"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=272934"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/272934\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/272935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=272934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=272934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=272934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}