“We were fortunate this owl was found quickly and brought to us before it suffered serious injuries,” said Dr. Hunter Ferchaw, a DVM intern at CROW. “The glue was so strong that the owl was unable to free itself and, in its attempts to do so, it had gotten not only its feet but also its wings and chest stuck as well. Glue traps don’t discriminate, and this case is a powerful reminder that they can also put the wildlife that naturally helps control insects and rodents at risk.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The CROW team used an adhesive-removal spray to separate the sedated owl from the trap and begin removing the glue. Once freed, the owl was bathed in warm water with dish soap and peanut butter.<\/p>\n
Because some sticky residue remained, staff also applied chinchilla dust to prevent the affected feathers from sticking together and causing further damage. Despite the extent of the entrapment, the owl did not sustain any serious injuries.<\/p>\n
Just three days after arriving at CROW, the patient was strong enough to move to an outdoor enclosure, where the rehabilitation team continued evaluating its recovery and readiness to return to the wild. On Sept. 25, the owl was cleared for release and returned to the wild near the location where it was originally found in Fort Myers.<\/p>\n
“It is always a huge win to successfully release an animal back into the wild,” said Ferchaw.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Glue traps can pose an unintended danger to wildlife because the adhesive cannot distinguish between targeted pests and other animals that encounter it. Animals caught on the traps can become exhausted and dehydrated while trying to escape.<\/p>\n
Burrowing owls naturally prey on insects and small animals, including some of the same species people may be attempting to control with traps. Anyone who discovers a wild animal stuck to an adhesive trap should contact a licensed wildlife rehabilitator for guidance.<\/p>\n
“We ask that the public refrain from attempting to remove an animal from a glue trap on their own,” said Amber Strassler, CVT, CWR, a Certified Veterinary Technician\/Floor Manager at CROW. “We recommend covering any exposed parts of the glue trap with paper and keeping the animal in a quiet, dark box until it can be transported to your nearest wildlife rehabilitation center.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
CROW also encourages the public to consider wildlife-safe alternatives to glue traps. Those can include repellents like peppermint oil, cayenne or ultrasonic repellents in addition to live traps that do not cause unnecessary suffering.<\/p>\n
To report sick, injured or orphaned wildlife in Southwest Florida, contact CROW’s wildlife hospital at 239-322-5068.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANIBEL ISLAND, Fla. (WINK) \u2014 An adult burrowing owl found with its entire body stuck to a glue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210,41851,28,17410,15471,24186,1521,169255,38979],"class_list":["post-431239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news","tag-crow","tag-florida","tag-owl","tag-sanibel","tag-sanibel-island","tag-southwest-florida","tag-wildlife-rehabilitation","tag-wink"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}