Team effort, hive mind, help crew rescue struggling owl
Dec 18, 2024, 7:00 PM
A portion of an owl rescue is seen in this video screengrab provided by PCL Construction. (PCL Construction)
(PCL Construction)
SALT LAKE CITY — Faced with a life or death situation, a crew turned to the tools they had right in front of them to rescue an owl.
PCL Construction’s assistant superintendent Jake Wilkins said his crew was working at the new water reclamation site in Salt Lake. It was a chilly day in October when they saw an owl sprawled out in water that had accumulated in a concrete basin. His first thought was to try and rescue the animal himself.
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“I suited up with some welding gloves, a face shield, and went down and tried to grab the bird,” Wilkins said. “[I was] hoping that it was immobilized enough to where we could get it out of there and get it to safety.”
Wilkins said the bird fluttered out of his reach, though, and into the middle of the basin.
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On to plan B
Then the crew realized they had a better, much bigger tool available to them.
“We’re trying to utilize what resources we had,” Wilkins said. “And we thought, ‘what better thing to use to get it out than the crane?'”
Between the crane operator, Wilkins, and a rigging specialist, they came up with the idea to use the crane and a grated metal basket to scoop up the bird.
“We were able to get the basket underneath the bird within the water and then scoop it up.”
And that worked. They got the owl out of the water. But they realized the owl needed more attention. One crew member offered up his Broncos sweatshirt, Wilkins said, another, a space heater. Someone else made a wooden cage while Wilkins looked online for someone who could help with animal rehabilitation.
Owl rescue and rehab
They found the Wildlife Center of Salt Lake City, and that’s where they took the owl. She rehabilitated there for a few days, Wilkins said, received some pain medication, fluids, and rest.
Then, Wildlife Center employees released her in the same general area where she was found.
No tears were shed, but “it was definitely a good feeling that the owl [was] sent back into its environment,” Wilkins said.
KSL NewsRadio has posted the rescue video to our Instagram page.
