Outhouse is the pits for trapped owl

[Donna]

ALISO VIEJO - This beats the dead sea turtle found on a San Clemente shore or suffocating doe found caught in a fence in Laguna Niguel, an animal control officer says.


The owl, found trapped in four-foot deep toilet Friday night, is recovering at the Orange County Bird of Prey Center, said Robbins.

He said an anonymous caller reported the owl was stuck at Acorn Park around 3 p.m. on Friday.

Did he think the caller was joking?

"I've never gotten pranks before; I thought it was kind of weird," said Robbins. "Maybe it could have been, but I've seen some crazy stuff."

When Robbins arrived on the scene at 6 p.m., he said he couldn't find the owl inside the outhouse because it was so dark. After taking a trip around the exterior, he went back inside and that's when he realized there was an owl staring back at him from the depths of a toilet.

Robbins, an animal services officer for the Mission Viejo Animal Shelter, is still baffled by the find.

"I can't even fathom it, it doesn't make any sense," said Robbins, 27. "I try to think of the different circumstances of how it could've gotten in there and none make any sense."

Owls are nocturnal animals and he's puzzled that the report came in at 3 p.m.

"I'd say the owl was stuck for at least a day," said Robbins. "The owl had to have been in there the previous night and the way it was... it wasn't active."

Robbins unbolted the toilet with an Allen wrench and a Phillips screwdriver that he borrowed from a maintenance man who was working across the field at a nearby school.

Once the toilet was dislodged, he grabbed a net to scoop up the owl, which he described as a juvenile.

"It was smelly and dirty," he said. "He lacked energy like he'd been through a long haul," said Robbins. "When he flapped his wings, you'd feel the drops hitting you."

Robbins brought the owl to the Serrano Bird and Animal Hospital in Lake Forest. Dr. Kristi Krause and Nicole Beaudet cleaned it off and gave it fluids, said lead veterinarian and the hospital's owner Dr. Scott Weldy. They found no injuries.

"He was fine," said Weldy. "He was just stuck at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Weldy said the owl is recovering and getting back into shape in a flight cage at the Orange County Bird of Prey Center, a non-profit rehabilitation and release center for injured raptors. He plans to release the owl in two weeks