A barn owl has had his broken wing reconstructed with pins after being hit by a car.
The adult male, named Oliver by nurses who cared for him at Tiggywinkles wildlife centre, was rescued by a passer-by while struggling in pain with by the side of the road.
An X-ray revealed the bird had fractured his right humerus. Vets agreed he would fly again only if given an operation to place tiny pins in his wing to ensure it healed correctly.
Animal nurse Sharon Jacobs, who helped to care for Oliver, said: “After the operation he was inside for four to six weeks while his wing healed. We did manual physiotherapy while he was in the cage inside, but now he has been put into an aviary outside to help him build up his own muscles.
“He will stay out in the aviary until his flight is perfect. There is no reason he will not go back to the wild because the vet did an amazing job. We will fully check his flying and hunting and make sure he is fully fit before we release him — which by looking at him it will be soon.”
But Mrs Jacobs revealed that Oliver was not the perfect patient. “We get quite a few owls in. This one had a very bad temper,” she said. “We went to go in the cage and he went to try to bicycle kick us, he was quite aggressive, bless him. Some barn owls are like that, they are just defending themselves.”
The hospital, in Haddenham near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, takes in hedgehogs and other small creatures as well as larger animals. It sees about 150 owls each year. About 40 per cent are found by the road or in a documented road traffic accident.
The most common owl patients are baby tawny owls forgotten by their mothers, followed by barn owls and little owls.
