Wildlife rescuer's plea for help to save life of baby barn owl with deformed wing
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Hugo's Small Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, a non-profit rescue based in Staining, took in Frankie the 10-week-old barn owl from a breeder in Essex last week.
The breeder had to patch up Frankie's egg shell before she hatched after it was damaged by her mother, but although she survived she was left with a wing deformity known as "angel wing."
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Hide AdThey contacted Hugo's to take the bird in for rehabilitation - or it would be euthanized.
Now co-founder Bailey Lister faces the task of raising enough money to pay an avian vet to fix the wing, or he says the baby owl could eventually face being euthanized anyway due to a poor quality of life.
Bailey said: "We've got our avian vet ready and prepared to perform a procedure on Frankie, but the initial X-Ray alone will cost around £130.
"Then the procedure will cost around £700. We've raised £300 so far, but we need to raise enough before Frankie's bones harden at around five months old and it becomes much more difficult to teach her to fly.
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Hide Ad"If we can't, she will have to be euthanized because she's got no quality of life at the moment. You can see how frustrated she gets, she knows what to do but she can't work out how."
Donations can be made to Hugo's fundraising page, with funds raised up to the amount of Frankie's procedure being paid to her vet.
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