Wildlife group combines owl release, fundraiser in Loomis

By Sam Stanton

The effort started out six months ago, when the pair were nothing more than little fluff balls, tiny orphaned owls maybe a month old each.

They were nurtured and protected, taught to catch mice, shown how owls carry themselves and what sounds they make.

And on a beautiful Saturday night in Loomis, the two great horned owls went home, back to the wild as part of an ongoing effort by Sacramento's Wildlife Care Association.

In a grassy area near a parking lot, they were coaxed one at a time from their cardboard pet carriers and took flight to the appreciative claps of two dozen onlookers.

The release of the owls came after an evening of presentations about wildlife and dinner at the Loomis Flower Farm Inn, where the association held what it hopes will become an annual event that serves as a fundraiser and release of rehabilitated wildlife.

The nonprofit group takes in as many as 7,000 orphaned and injured wild animals each year, with volunteers nursing them back to health and working to release them back into the wild.

The group's volunteers will take in birds, squirrels, possums, raccoons and other wildlife.

"We take in everything except mountain lions, bears and deer," said Debbie Duvall, an 18-year veteran of the group who served as foster mom for the two owls.

Duvall was in charge of taking care of the two baby owls while making certain that human interaction with them was limited.

She had a little help from Nala, an adult great horned owl that came to the group 12 years ago. Nala has a broken wing and can no longer fly. The owl has settled in comfortably with Duvall, living with her and making regular visits to schools.

"We got her as an adult," Duvall said. "She was found hanging in barbed wire."

Nala also provided a critical service to the orphaned owls, "showing them owl body language, vocal sounds," and helping to teach them to hunt mice, Duvall said.

"She's very defensive of them," Duvall said.

Unlike Nala, the two owls released Saturday were not named, part of the effort to keep them from becoming "imprinted" by having too much human contact.

The hope is that the owls have learned enough to make it on their own in the wild, and Saturday night's event was the first time the group has used a release as a fundraiser.

The organization, which has existed since 1974, hopes to conduct annual fundraising dinners like this one, and there clearly will be no shortage of rehabilitated animals.

If the event turns into an annual dinner, chances are Nala will be around. She is believed to be 15 or 20, and great horned owls can live to be about 35, Duvall said.

She said there are about 30 volunteers who have been trained to rehabilitate rescued wild animals.

"Anybody can do it, as long as they go through the training," she said.