MOLLY WALD/BEST FRIENDS ANIMAL SOCIETY
IN RECOVERY: The young owl flaps around the rehab center’s bird enclosure.
In October 2025, a great horned owl arrived at the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. Someone had found the bird at a construction site, covered with drying concrete. After cleaning the young owl, staff noticed that some of its feathers were damaged, causing its right wing to make a whooshing sound when it flew. This was a problem since owls rely on silent flight to sneak up on prey.
After six months, the owl hadn’t naturally molted—or shed its old feathers and grown new ones. So the team clipped off the damaged feathers, then carefully glued feathers from another owl into each hollow shaft. The owl left the rehab center later that day, flapping quietly back into the wild.