From Owl Rescue Centre
We rescued this dirty little budgie from Eagle Spring Works in the south of Johannesburg this afternoon. He decided to take a midnight bath in a drum of old machine oil, which for owls is fairly common-if you have owls and you have old oil, eventually you will have one that looks like this.
We’ll give him a few foam baths over the next few days to make him more presentable. He will also need to sleep in an incubator, as he cannot control his body temperature in his current condition. But he is a feisty lad and should be fine in time. 😉
In the comments, they also mentioned that red skin you can see is irritated/burned from exposure to the oil, so that will get topical treatment as well. I’m glad this guy has found its way to good hands!
I think I see regret in his eyes.
Hopefully getting refloofed and warmed up will have it back to its healthy grumpy self soon!
Poor thing… But at least now he’s on his way to a full revovery.
I’m always so grateful when they are found in time!
Why are owls getting in oil in drums?
Many owls are cavity nesters, so they will explore dark holes looking for nesting or roosting spots. I’m more familiar with them getting trapped in uncapped chimneys for this reason, but the drum was likely left uncovered, the oil made it look like a deep, dark spot, and this barnie went to explore it looking for safety.
