A great horned owl tangled in barbed wire on private land near Spearfish, South Dakota, is on the mend after an impromptu rescue effort that drew in passing drivers, a landowner and a local veterinarian, according to an account published by Cowboy State Daily and reported by Good News Network.
The episode began when Sharon Jacobs and her husband, Scott Jacobs, were driving past the property. Scott Jacobs spotted what he took to be a hawk caught in, on or around a barbed wire fence. Sharon Jacobs, described as an animal lover, asked him to back up the vehicle so she could inspect the situation more closely.
On foot, she approached what was plainly a mass of feathers and discovered that the bird her husband believed was a dead hawk was in fact a living great horned owl. She called out the identification to him and then positioned herself as near as she felt was safe, speaking in a calm, reassuring manner much as she would to a rescued horse at their home.
Freeing the bird required a bag to place over its head — a standard technique for keeping wildlife calm — along with protective gloves. Scott Jacobs had a black bag on hand but lacked gloves. At that point a second motorist pulled over to ask what was happening. Scott Jacobs explained the predicament and asked whether the driver, identified as Brandon, had any gloves. Brandon said that he did.
The two men returned to Sharon Jacobs, covered the owl's head with the bag and, with some measure of protection against the bird's talons, started working to untwist it from the wire. As they did, the daughter of the landowner arrived on the scene.
It was then Sharon Jacobs who jogged up to the growing cluster of vehicles to explain the situation, advising that the most effective approach would be to cut the wire itself. The daughter telephoned her father, who agreed that the bird should be cut free without delay.
Wirecutters were still needed. Brandon had a pair. With that, the group of three — joined by a fourth person on the phone — succeeded in freeing the owl. Sharon Jacobs drove it straight to her veterinarian, who consented to meet the group at his office to examine the bird, bringing the number of people involved to five.
The veterinarian removed two steel barbs from the owl and determined that the bird would be able to fly again. Sharon Jacobs then telephoned every wildlife center in the area to determine which was best equipped to care for a wounded owl. The answer was the Black Hills Raptor Center.
"Everybody's goal was to get this beautiful creature taken care of," Sharon Jacobs told Cowboy State Daily while recounting the rescue operation.
According to the Raptor Center, the ideal outcome is to release the owl in the same area where it was discovered. Sharon Jacobs told Good News Network that she has "every intention of being there."
"And I know I'll cry," she told Good News Network.