When a Rescue is Actually a Kidnapping…

A big part of what we do every day is address issues regarding the rescue of wildlife in trouble. And, that is as it should be.

To be very clear; however, sometimes a rescue is not a rescue at it all…it is a kidnapping…and that we try to avoid, if at all possible. Let me explain…

Many times during the spring, caring people are enticed into watching the nesting/brooding birds in their yards. One of the most common hotline calls we get is from a homeowner who has had the good fortune of a hummingbird building a nest outside the kitchen window. All of the sudden a chore like doing the dishes has become fun…checking on what the mom hummingbird is doing has become a habit in much the same way that a video cam in an eagle’s nest is, but these are YOUR hummingbirds, and you are doubly invested in their well-being.

Then at some point you don’t see mom snuggled tight on her babes…she is gone… your mind races through possibilities, and concludes that she must have been killed because she has up to this point been the model mom. What do you do? Well, of course, you call Liberty Wildlife. The very wise Hotline volunteer suggests that you keep a close watch to see if the mother stealthily flies in and delivers food to the two babies who now are able to regulate their own temperature. And yes, indeed, there she is, and it becomes clear that there is no longer room in the nest for mom and her two babies. All this time you were fretting about the demise of the mom, she has been sitting on a limb close by monitoring her babes. It would have been so sad for her to watch them being ‘rescued’ by a caring person who thought they were doing the right thing. That is when a rescue isn’t a rescue but an unintended kidnapping.

An incident this past weekend resulted in what I consider to be the kidnapping of some barn owl eggs. Here’s the situation. Tubers/swimmers on the Salt River have been allowed to place ropes up the side of a cliff so that they can climb up and jump into the river. I guess this is a good idea…until the rope became a highway to a barn owl’s nest this spring. Barn owls are cavity nesters, and this mom found what she assumed was a pretty sweet spot to lay her eggs and hopefully raise her young. Now, during breeding season, these creatures are hard wired to breed, nest, incubate and raise babies. They are hard wired to brood, feed and teach their babies how to survive in the world. They are hard wired to do all of this.

Now, granted, sometimes things happen that make this scenario impossible… if the parent owls are killed, or nests are accidentally torn down, etc. Or even, recently, a person threatened to kill a fledgling great horned owl if someone didn’t come move it from her yard…that is, while the parents were watching over it from a palm tree in the next yard. Wisely, our rescue volunteer saved the day for that fledgling, the person, and for the owl parents by relocating it next door to a more hospitable spot.

In some cases, there must be a rescue if a safe resolution can’t be found. Obviously, the best solution is to make the area safe for the mother to do what she must do…complete her annual drive to procreate and send babies into the wild. But best is not always possible.

For the particular mother barn owl on the river, the situation wasn’t going to allow for the best case. Once the owl and her eggs were discovered by the folks on the river, her fate and that of her offspring was caste. A rescue was orchestrated even though experienced people suggested reasonable other alternatives – like temporarily taking down the rope if the area couldn’t be cordoned off…just long enough for the nesting season to complete. As for rescue, sure it was possible to climb up the rope, snag the eggs away from the mother, and take them away to be incubated. Sure, it was possible to raise baby owlets without a parent…but was it the best solution? I think not. Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.

As wildlife rehabilitators, we have all learned how to do the job…some better than others…but what we really need to do is assess what is best for the baby owl and its parent. Folks out for a good time on the river do not always have to come first.

If I had been in charge, I would have let the mom complete the task nature meant her to do. I would have cut down the rope, cordoned off the area, and explained to the inquisitive public exactly why I was doing it. My guess is that most would completely understand and actually support the effort. They really would want to do what was best. I fear my optimism sounds foolish and, sadly this time, it was wasted because ultimately this momma barn owl ended up the victim of a kidnapping. The eggs were taken.

It’s my hope that sharing stories like these will help all of us understand and appreciate nature, and the natural cycles of the wildlife we share space with. I hope that a community of understanding, compassionate individuals will win the day for future wildlife. And maybe the next nesting owl will get to raise her young the way she was hardwired to.