Injured Great Horned Owl Gets New Lease On Life

Angles Camp, CA – An injured Great Horned Owl is flying free once again.

As we reported at the end of August, the owl was found by CHP Officer Valencia. It was severely injured on the shoulder of Highway 4 in the Angels Camp area of Calaveras County after being hit by a car. At the time, it was unclear if the bird, named "Toby" by the officer, would make it. The owl was suffering from head trauma with blood in its mouth and a swollen eye.

The CHP reports that after a few weeks of recovery at TriCounty Wildlife Care in Jackson , "Toby is back on his wings!" Officials with the animal rescue group added, "As he [Toby] recovered, we made his space larger and larger until he was flying well in our 50' cage." Those workouts led to Officer Valencia's help with Tuesday's (10/15) release of a healthy Toby back into the wild, for which rescuers recounted, "All owls are different and this one was very laid back so even though he charged out of the crate, he landed twice before getting his bearings to fly off."

The CHP noted that the release spot was in the same area where the officer originally spotted the injured bird lying on the side of the highway.