By Ashley M. Casey
Staff Writer
Henry the snowy owl was the recipient of a Christmas miracle.
On Christmas Eve, Jay Hennessey and his family were headed home from visiting his parents, Rosemary and John Hennessey, in Baldwinsville when they spotted a snowy owl on Route 370.
“The owl should have flown away as we drove by, but all he could muster was a fast waddle. The poor owl’s left wing was drooping. He was clearly injured,” Jay Hennessey wrote in an account to his extended family, which he provided to the Messenger.
Jay and his daughter, Shannon, both graduates of SUNY-ESF, led the family — which lives in Indiana and also includes mom Laura (a former Baker track star) and sons Connor and J.P. — on a rescue mission.
“Neither one of us had ever seen a snowy owl before — always saw them on TV,” Jay told the Messenger.
Shannon called her former roommate, who is from Baldwinsville and has worked with injured birds of prey. The roommate put Shannon in touch with Jean Soprano of the Pennellville-based nonprofit Kindred Kingdoms Wildlife Rehabilitation Center.
“Shannon was advised by the proprietor Jean to capture the bird by getting close enough to throw a blanket over him then placing him in a box to keep him calm,” Jay wrote.
The Hennessey family tracked the owl for 45 minutes. Jay and J.P. distracted the owl so Shannon could nab him with a comforter to cover his sharp beak and talons.
“It was either we get the owl to the emergency room or he’s going to get us because they’re so strong,” Jay said. “I thought for sure someone was going to get bled. That’s usually how our fun ends — somebody gets hurt.”
Unscathed, the Hennesseys loaded their quarry, whom Shannon dubbed Henry, into an empty garbage can and set out for Pennellville.
At Kindred Kingdoms, Soprano evaluated Henry and his injuries. He weighed 3.3 pounds, “which is close to normal for a juvenile male snowy owl,” Jay wrote. According to Soprano, Henry fortunately had not broken any bones. He suffered soft tissue damage and bruising to his left wing.
A few days later, the Hennesseys emailed Soprano to check on Henry’s progress.
“With time, he should recover,” Soprano wrote in an email to Jay.
Jay said Soprano was confident that Henry would bounce back with rest and pain medication, and that he would be “transferred to the flight cage for flying practice” in preparation of his release back into the wild.
“He should hopefully be on his merry way very soon,” Jay told the Messenger.
To learn more about Kindred Kingdoms and its mission of caring for injured birds of prey and black bears, visit kindredkingdoms.com.
