Injured birds get new enclosure at Friends of Texas Wildlife

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas — Two great horned owls took another step closer to going back to their natural habitat at the Friends of Texas Wildlife rescue center on Monday.

Raised up from chicks, the two owls’ release into a larger enclosure that was built by the Magnolia Rotary Club means another milestone reached on their way to independent survival in the wild.

“It’s just one more step closer to them being free again,” Lisa Wolling, executive director of Friends of Texas Wildlife, said. “As a rehabber at heart, you don’t want to see these birds have to stay longer than they need to just because they’re waiting for reconditioning for flight.”

The two Rotarians who spearheaded the project, Dan Lowe and Rick Milne, braved the owls’ gripping talons to personally release them into their brand new flight enclosure. What started out as an idea for a district grant for the Magnolia Rotary Club became much a service project aided by an entire community.

“How naive were we to think with just $3,500 we could just throw at this, and a club full of Rotarians that could erect something as nice as this rafter cage,” Lowe, president of the Rotary Club, said. “But what we had was companies like Hughes Natural Gas that set the posts, W-2 Contractors that help put the roof up and my handyman, Ken, who set the framing up for the roof.”

With a list of requirements provided by the rescue center, Shady Brook Animal Hospital designed the building. Chick-Fil-A even provided lunch to the 30 to 40 volunteers who showed up to help.

“I’ve learned what a great community we have,” Lowe said. “I mean, I’m leaving out some folks I’m sure, and this was really a true testament of what our community can do when we all work together.”

Wolling said it is vitally important for organizations surrounding the community to volunteer their services for projects like this to expedite the rotation of birds between cages.

“The faster we can rotate the birds, if they come in with a broken wing or head trauma, the faster we can rotate them into the flight enclosure, the less time they have to spend in our care overall,” Wolling said. “So it’s just better for the birds.”

Lowe said Janette Winkelmann, president of The Board of Directors for Friends of Texas Wildlife, gave a passionate plea for the help of the Rotary Club.

“We thought it was a great opportunity for the Magnolia Rotary to help out the Friends of Texas Wildlife,” Milne said. “So, you can see here today what the end product was in terms of a facility that’ll be here for 15 to 20 years.”

Winkelmann showed the group of volunteers one of the three owls rescued in one week to help them understand how their work pays off for the Friends of Texas Wildlife.

“We just take for granted what’s taking place everyday, what they’re doing for us and the wildlife out here in this region,” Lowe said. “We’re just glad to be a part of it.”

Grateful for their help, Wolling and Winkelmann said the community helped push the rescue center in a positive direction and look forward to utilizing the resources that will facilitate the mission of Friends of Texas Wildlife.

“I’m surrounded by people like this, like Dan and like Rick, that’ll take the time out of their day to step up and make a difference and help,” Winkelmann said. “These birds live 20 to 25 years. What does that tell you when we save one? We just appreciate them taking the time and the money and the effort to support us. It’s huge.”