Israeli settler and Palestinian cooperate to save horned owl
Settlement security guard Yosef Eliyahu found an injured owl and was joined by Palestinian Eyad Beduwan to rescue the rare bird of prey.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning Yosef Eliyahu, a security guard at the Har Adar Israeli settlement, was driving along his routine security route when he spotted what he thought at first was a beautiful statue of a bird – but at closer observation he saw that the statue was actually a horned owl which was unable to take flight due to an injury.
Video: Sagit Horowitz / Ramat Gan Safari (צילום: שגית הורוביץ, ספארי ר"ג)
"During my drive next to homes, I saw a large bird that stood on the fence of one of the houses. At first I thought that someone had put a big, beautiful statue near their garden because it did not move. I started to think that maybe I was imaging it was an animal, so I returned and saw that it was a horned owl," Eliyahu said.
Photo: Sagit Horowitz / Ramat Gan Safari
"I saw that it had a string that got tied up in its wing. It was the first time that I saw a bird of prey that was so large," Eliyahu continued.
Eliyahu, who lives in the Nes Harim Moshav, has been working as a security guard at the Har Adar settlement for give years. After notifying the West Bank's parks and recreation manager of his find, Eyad Beduwan, a Palestinin who lives in one of the adjacent villages and works at the operations unit at the local council, was called in to help save the horned owl.
"First, Eyad and I furthered away curious onlookers so that they would not scare the owl. The plastic string was very strong, and got tangled up in its wing. In the beginning, it was hard to see the string but in the end Eyad and I were able to release it and we put (the owl) in a box until parks and recreation came to get him.
"We see a lot of nocturnal birds in the area but they are usually smaller and I'm happy we could help him," said Eliyahu.
Eyad with horned owl
The horned owl is one of the largest nocturnal birds in Israel. They hunt their prey at night and during the nesting period, as the female incubates the eggs, the male goes in search of food. They travel discreetly and do not hesitate to prey on anything that moves – crows, other birds of prey, long-eared owls (which they specialize in hunting), barn owls, and falcons.
"The horned owl most likely got tangled I the string of a kite and his wing was twitching. I instructed the rescuers while they released him from the plastic string and the fence because I feared that they would cause more damage to the wing," said Motti Shefi, the head of the parks and recreation department in the West Bank.
Photo: Sagit Horowitz / Ramat Gan Safari
Shefi told the rescuers to wrap the owl in a towel in order to calm him down. Shefi and the rescuers then took the owl to a veterinarian at the Veterinary Hospital for Wildlife at the Ramat Gan Safari.
Dr. Nili Anglister gave the owl primary care and a checkup and was eventually able to release the string from the owl's wing. "It is an injury that heals on its own and for his luck, he was found very fast," said Dr. Anglister.
The horned owl was kept at the hospital for a day and then released back to his natural habitat. After the rescuers took off the towel wrapping the owl, it spread its wings and disappeared into the night.
