Members of the World Bird Sanctuary staff were saddened last week by the sudden loss of our nine-year-old European Barn Owl, Tobin.
Upon noticing that he was acting “not quite right” one evening we started him on a course of preventative antibiotics until we could get him to the vet in the morning. However, by the next morning it was obvious that he was in severe distress and before we could get him to the vet he passed on.
Animals in the wild have perfected the ability to mask symptoms of illness to protect themselves from becoming prey for the many predators who are very adept at picking off the sick and injured. This “masking” ability sometimes makes it extremely difficult to spot problems in captive animals (even dogs and cats), until it is too late, even for our sharp-eyed and ever vigilant naturalists.
Results of a necropsy indicated that Tobin succumbed to heart failure—probably due to his age. At the age of nine he had long outlived his wild brethrens’ normal lifespan of 3-4 years.
Tobin, wowing a group of school children at one of our Raptor Awareness programs
Tobin was one of our most popular Barn Owls, performing for thousands of children and adults each year in our outreach programs. He was definitely one of the stars of our Raptor Awareness program and a favorite of staff and visitors. He will be sorely missed.
