Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

KEEP IT WILD

Grumpy the Owl fosters orphaned owlet at the BC Wildlife Park

May 8, 2023 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — If you get too close to Grumpy the Great Horned Owl and her foster owlet, she’ll let you know.

“She will come at you if you get a little too close to that baby,” BC Wildlife Park Animal Care Manager Tracy Reynolds tells CFJC Today. “She’s a fairly big owl.”

Grumpy got her name by being… well, Grumpy. She was the third wheel in the Great Horned Owl exhibit at the Wildlife Park, and as a wild owl who stuck around after coming in with an injured wing, she couldn’t be released.

“She’s been here for a long time. She used to be on display, and unfortunately, we have two other Great Horned Owls, and those two paired, and she wasn’t really welcome anymore,” Reynolds explains. “We’ve decided to repurpose her to help us with our rehab patients.”

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An owlet was brought in after its nest was blown out of a tree during one of this spring’s storms. While his two siblings didn’t make it, the little guy survived and was brought to the park for rehab.

“Once it was stabilized enough, we then introduced the chick to Grumpy,” Reynolds says. “That really just involved putting the chick right next to her. Luckily for us, this year Grumpy has made a nest and was sitting on some eggs. We removed those eggs — they were not fertilized, obviously, because she doesn’t have a mate. We removed the eggs and put the chick there — which was quite large — you know, here’s your big baby — and she then did all the appropriate things and adopted it as her own.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today

That means Grumpy gets to be a Mom and teach the baby owl all the tricks to being an owl. It also helps ensure the baby doesn’t get imprinted upon by park staff, which will give it a better chance of thriving once he gets released.

“We want the animal to go out wild. We don’t want it associating with humans or approaching humans in any way. The more wild we can keep these animals, the better chance they’ll have a survival out in the wild.”

In a few months, the little owl will be fully-fledged and will start trying to fly, which will mean the two will move enclosures. But for now, they’re hanging tight in the Fawcett Family Animal Health Centre — just having a hoot.