After Losing His Family, Orphaned Owl Found A Mother Who Needed Him Too

Two barred owls rescued separately but each with their own tragic story delighted caregivers when they unexpectedly became family.

Back in April of 2025, Raptor Education Group, Inc. (REGI) received an urgent call from the Purvis family about a barred owl entangled in their barbed wire fence. They quickly cut the bird free and rushed him over to REGI. REGI determined the owl was a juvenile, hatched only months earlier. So although he could fly, he was too young to know how to hunt, given that he had been separated from his parents six to seven months earlier than he should have been.

REGI tended to his badly injured wing, but they weren’t sure he would fly again. They wrote on Facebook, “We were concerned he might not regain full flight. He surprised us, and by summer, he was flying well enough to move to a larger exercise enclosure with several other barred owls of various ages, all recovering from accidents, including vehicle collisions.”

They added, “We were cautiously optimistic about his recovery. He was flying, but raptors must be perfect: not only to fly but also excel at more complicated flight patterns to hunt and protect themselves and their families from predators.”

Then in October of 2025, REGI received several calls from the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. Zach Freiberg, a Wisconsin State Patrol trooper, and one of REGI’s raptor specialists, Steven Fisher, were on the scene of an accident where two barred owls had been struck by a vehicle. One owl had died, but the female owl survived. REGI later learned the deceased owl was likely the baby of the female owl.

The female owl was seriously injured; she had a head injury and internal bleeding. But she too surprised and delighted her rescuers by healing better than expected, and by December she was moved into their larger “exercise flight enclosure with about ten other Barred Owls, all recovering from their various injuries, including the barbed wire-entangled youngster.”

A few months passed, and by early February 2026 it was time to evaluate whether the owls were ready for release back into the wild. Staff entered the enclosure to catch the owls to give them a physical exam when something unusual happened. The rescued female owl put her wing around the young male owl rescued from the barbed wire and clacked her beak at them. She had gone into “protective mode.”

“It was clear she had taken on the role of ‘mother’ to the young male and he was in full compliance,” REGI wrote. “Our patients ‘found each other’ in the conditioning enclosure, enabling each to become whole again after their traumatic experiences.”

The owls’ newfound bond so touched their caregivers that they soon realized the pair needed to be released together “into the sunset near the female’s home territory.”

So the two birds were set free into the wild by the very people who had saved them. “Each owl gained its freedom from the hands of those who rescued them, Trooper Zach Freiberg held the beautiful adult female to the sunset as Ryan Purvis held the young male,” wrote REGI. As they prepared to take flight, the mother owl looked over protectively at her adopted child even as they were about to be released.

And as the owls flew away, “they vocalized to each other after they were released and then started their second chance at life together.”

“This time, both owls were well and ready to take their place in their wild world once more,” REGI wrote. “The owls flew from the last hands that would ever hold them as they headed towards the sunset, calling to each other. We wish them a long and happy rest of their life.”

You can see pictures from their heartwarming release here: