Village bands together to rescue great horned owl tangled in barbed wire in South Dakota

Spearfish: A rural community came together to rescue an injured great horned owl trapped in a barbed wire fence in South Dakota, in an effort that saw half a village pitch in.

The story began when Sharon and Scott Jacobs were driving past private land in Spearfish and Scott spotted what he thought was a hawk caught on a fence. Sharon, an animal lover, asked her husband to back up for a closer look.

She approached the lump of feathers and realized it was a living great horned owl, not a dead hawk.

Sharon stood near the bird, calmly reassuring it, while Scott looked for help. They needed a bag to cover the owl’s head to keep it calm and gloves to protect from its talons. Scott had a black bag but no gloves.

At that moment, another driver, named Brandon, stopped and asked what was wrong. When told about the owl, he said he had gloves.

Brandon also had wire cutters, which proved crucial. As the duo tried to untwist the bird from the barbed wire, the landowner’s daughter arrived. After being briefed, she called her father, who told them to cut the wire and free the bird immediately.

The team of three, with a fourth on the phone, freed the owl. Sharon then took it to her veterinarian, who met them at his office and removed two steel barbs from the bird. He said the owl would be able to fly again.

Sharon contacted nearby wildlife centres and was directed to the Black Hills Raptor Center, which is now rehabilitating the bird.”Everybody’s goal was to get this beautiful creature taken care of,” Sharon told Cowboy State Daily.

The Raptor Center said it plans to release the owl in the same area where it was found. Sharon said she intends to be there for the release.”And I know I’ll cry,” she said.