Baby owl found on Nova Scotia golf course being treated at rehab centre

An adorable baby owl is making good progress after being found alone by golfers on Wednesday at the Eden Golf and Country Club in Paradise, N.S.

After noticing there didn't appear to be any other parents or other birds around, the golfers notified the Department of Natural Resources and the great horned owl was then brought to the Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre in Brookfield, which is a registered charity that bills itself as providing "veterinary care and rehabilitation to injured, orphaned and sick wildlife."

Messer says the owl is probably about two weeks old. While it didn't have any injuries, it was dehydrated, thin and listless.

"Because there was no injuries, we suspect it probably wasn't a predator that took it out of the nest, but maybe he got blown out or fell out by accident or maybe a sibling pushed him out," he said.

'Surrogate parents'

Messer says the owl will be fed in an incubator for the next little while until he can grow enough feathers to stay warm outside. Once his feathers have grown, the owl will be moved to an enclosure where two other great horned owls reside.

"They're going to become his surrogate parents and hopefully teach him owl behaviour because that's the one thing we can't do," said Messer.

Hopefully, the surrogate parents will teach the owl about things like social interaction and how to avoid a predator, says Messer.

He suspects it will likely take six to eight weeks for the owl to be ready to be returned to the wild.