SkyWatch Bird Rescue

Baby bird season is upon us, and to be prepared for the influx of babies that will need our help,  we desperately need to acquire 2 more incubators. Some of our incubators are very old and although they've been workhorses, last summer they pulled their last weight before giving up. This summer we will need to replace 2 incubators to raise the nearly 1000 baby birds we get each year as orphans. 

Meet Venus. She is a beautiful young female Barn Owl. She lives at SkyWatch as a permanent Educational ambassador.

 Venus cannot be released back to the wild because when she was a young chick someone found her at the base of a tree on the ground (which is normal for young owls) but instead of putting her back in the tree or calling a wildlife shelter for advice, they decided to keep her as a "pet".  Weeks later, when they realised she was not doing well at all,  they finally took her to a shelter in Charlotte but by then she had a foot that was badly broken in 5 different places, was underweight/ malnourished, and had a bacterial infection and diarhea from being fed the wrong foods. She was also imprinted and so she has no fear of humans. Her foot, after recovery, had limited mobility. She'll need life long physical therapy and anti-inflammatories for pain management and comfort. These combined factors means she will not survive if released to the wild. Venus is now a Skywatch educational ambassador helping us spread awareness.

Currently Venus is in a cage that meets the legal standards and minimum requirement for cage size from the Fish and Wildlife Service for an ambassador bird, but that's not a very large space. We would like to give her a true flight cage where she can have more of a sense of "freedom" and can enjoy flying around with enough room to house other future non releasable Barn Owls  that will surely arrive sometime, and need safe haven. Having a cage big enough to fly and house other mates or companions will be such a great addition for her happiness and quality of life which is very important to us at SkyWatch.

Venus is a great flier, she enjoys flying and diving and jumping. A flight cage will allow her to feel like a "real" owl so she has space and activity she can enjoy at night when she is wide awake!. Please help us make a large flight cage for Venus and other future non-releasable owls like her who will also need a safe place to "retire" and live comfortably so they don't have to be euthanized when deemed non releasable.

Help us give them a chance to soar once more.

We need to raise money to build a 50 foot flight cage with owl boxes and weather protection so she and other Barn Owl friends can have great housing with lots of space since they can't enjoy the wild anymore. Everyone who donates towards this will be invited to SkyWatch once the cage is complete to watch her take flight into her new cage for the first time!

Thank you so much for giving a hoot!

Sincerely,

SkyWatch Bird Rescue
& Conservation Center.