His Story

In spring 2006 Hootie, the great horned owl, fell from his nest during a windstorm in Mandeville Canyon. His eyes were still closed and he was covered with white downy feathers, too young to survive on his own. Fortunately, he landed in someone’s backyard. They called Wildworks and brought him to us for care.
We had never seen a great horned owl this young before, and at first we thought he was a hawk. But within a few days a great horned owl characteristic appeared: he opened his big yellow eyes! The first thing he saw was a human being, and he instantly became “imprinted” on humans. For this reason, we were unable to release him and he was raised at Wildworks. Hootie has since become a valuable owl ambassador for our wildlife educational presentations.