Sometimes life is the pits. At least it was for one Great Gray Owl in Georgetown Lake, Montana. Who’s in the toilet? No, hoos in the toilet is a more apt description. The poor owl made the mistake of flying down the vent system of a vault toilet at the lake. The subsequent rescue is enough to make you want to take a shower.
Who’s in the toilet? It’s poo for two
Recently the phone rang at the Wild Skies Raptor Center in Potomac, Montana. The caller was Lara Chodelski, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Lara had a question for the folks at the center. How do you fish an owl out of a bottom of a vault toilet? Since the center’s mission is to “provide the best possible care, rehabilitation, and eventual release of injured raptors,” it seemed the right place to call. Some ice fishermen seeking relief at the toilet found the owl needed some relief herself.
So, just how do you get a Great Gray Owl out of the depths of despair? Probably as you imagine it. Biologist Lara braved the depths of the outhouse, and was lowered down into the pit. The rest (save for Lara’s cleaning up, perhaps) was fairly quick work. “After a bath and some fattening up,” reports the raptor center, “we took this beauty back.” The owl was soon released and flying on her own.
A presumably cleaned up Lara Chodelski wasn’t done with her assignment. The vault toilet at Georgetown Lake is now outfitted with a “poo poo screen,” thanks to her additional ministrations. Such screens prevent critters from attempting to take refuge in human refuse. Who’s in the toilet? It’s not any of our feathered friends.
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A “crappy” story with a good clean ending.. 🙃
Yea, it was a real Hoot!
I admire her willingness to rescue the owl, given the circumstances. She must have been able to put herself close enough to the owl’s position to gain sufficient empathy to ignore the odor, etc.,. I do not know that I could have. I’d like to think that I could, but … . Thank you, Russ and Tina! Safe travels! 🙂