Danbury FD Rescue Entangled Owl at Richter Park Golf Course

A feel-good story is just coming to us of an animal rescue by the Danbury Fire Department that happened early yesterday morning in the city.

According to a beautifully-written account posted by the Danbury Fire Department's official Facebook Page, the story begins at 6:30AM, Sunday morning, November 22. Danbury Fire had received a call from an off-duty Connecticut State Police Trooper, telling them that there was an owl stuck in the netting of the driving range at Richter Park Golf Course on Aunt Hack Road.

Danbury FD Fire Truck 1 arrived on scene, and found that the owl was entangled around 25 feet up. After an unsuccessful attempt at reaching the poor little guy with an aerial platform, ground ladders were deployed, and firefighters were able to successfully cut away the netting that had trapped the owl and got it into a recently-donated crate, which you can see in the photo. I'm no owl expert, but I looked into the Wildlife of Connecticut website, and as far as I can tell, that's a Great Horned Owl, the heaviest in North America, at 2-5 pounds, and a wingspan of around 4 feet.

After checking the owl out, and seeing no obvious signs of injury, the firemen decided to set the little fella free, and according to the post, the owl was also encouraged back into the wild by a nearby Black Lab, who found the little feathered friend irresistible and chased the owl back into the open sky. I've lived in Connecticut for over 50 years, and I can count the times I've seen an owl in the wild on one hand. Great job Danbury FD.