menu close open event RSVP required ticketed event
Toggle Search

Frank

Some Franklin residents had quite a surprise when they looked out their window and saw Frank, the Great Horned Owl, tangled in kite string in a tall tree in their front yard!

They quickly made a call to the Wisconsin Humane
Society Wildlife Rehabilitation Center to ask for help. 

We dispatched Patti, an experienced Wildlife Rescue Volunteer, to help Frank. Patti used her tallest ladder and longest extension net to try to reach Frank, but he was too high. So we put in a call to the Franklin Fire Department to ask for their help to reach Frank. The Franklin fire-fighters were extremely helpful and used a lift bucket to get Patti up high enough to reach Frank. As the bucket lifted Patti and a firefighter closer to the struggling owl, they could see that the string was wrapped around Frank’s left wing. Frank struggled to free himself but the line was really tightly wrapped around his wing and he needed to be cut free. Patti held Frank steady while the firefighter cut the line and freed the desperate owl. 

With her feet firmly back on the ground, Patti carefully placed Frank into a transport carrier and brought him right away to the WHS Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. Our wildlife rehabilitators did a thorough exam and found that he was quite thin, dehydrated and exhausted. Frank was very lucky in that he did not suffer any broken bones or dislocations from his entanglement. Over the next few days we treated Frank for dehydration and worked at putting some weight back on him. Fortunately, he was a good eater, and after several good meals and a few days of cage rest to allow him to regain his strength, Frank was ready for release. 

On Frank’s release day, all who helped him were there to see him off: Patti, our rescue volunteer, the Franklin Fire Department, the caring people who called us to ask for help and even a local TV news station! All eyes watched as Patti lifted Frank into the air. Frank spread his wings, silently took flight and disappeared, carried by powerful wing beats, into the nearby woods. 

We are not funded by tax dollars: only with your support can we help distressed animals like Frank.