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Community Corner

Owl Discovery Comes to Mineola Library

Non-profit Volunteers for Wildlife provides children with up close avian encounter.

Normally you’d expect to find an owl in a barn or in one of the undeveloped areas of Suffolk county, not at the as a group of 12 children and their parents encountered Tuesday afternoon.

The owls were brought to Mineola by Volunteers for Wildlife as part of a demonstration for the children learn about and see the nocturnal birds up close.

Lauren Schulz, the education coordinator at Volunteers for Wildlife, brought out four owls in various sizes and colors. Each owl had been seriously hurt and brought to the Wildlife Hospital Clinic and Rehabilitation Center for recovery.

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The volunteer non-profit takes in about 750 sick and injured wild animals from all over Long Island, nursing them back to health until they are ready to be released.

The wildlife organization also takes care of animals like Eastern Screech Owls Therese and Orlando, Solomon, a Barred Owl, and Marcus, the Great Horned Owl, who are too hurt to survive on their own after their injuries.

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The event was meant to raise awareness of taking care of wild animals that have been injured and give the children an opportunity to see an animal they normally wouldn’t get to see up close.

Volunteers for Wildlife have held previous events at Mineola featuring other birds of prey like the falcon and the hawk, and Schulz has noticed the positive impact the demonstrations have on audiences.

“A lot of people that see our programs then go to volunteer with us, or they just know of us, and it increases public awareness so people can then, if they find a creature that’s animal or hurt they know who to call” Schulz said.

Schulz educated the children on how each bird came to the facility: Orlando, a small, brown Eastern Screech Owl, arrived in 2009 after his tree was cut down. The person who found Orlando decided to keep him instead of immediately bringing him to the proper facilities, something Schulz strongly advises against. That same year Therese was hit by a car while hunting and was immediately brought to the organization for rescue.

Schulz also had several surprises for her crowd. While the children could not hold the birds, Lauren brought feathers from the Red Tailed Hawks and the Great Horned Owl as well as a skull for the children to handle.

With Schulz encouraging the audience to share what they had learned about owls, Adam Tobar said he enjoyed learning about what the avians eat and discovering how they hunt their food, while Edwin Melara now knows that female owls does not let the male owls take care of babies for a few weeks.

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