SEQUIM — The Northwest Raptor & Wildlife Center is raising 14 baby owls of three different species.
Jaye Moore, the center’s founder and executive director, is raising 12 healthy barn owl chicks from four different clutches, one orphaned Western screech owl chick and one barred owl chick with an apparent brain injury, said Matthew Randazzo, spokesman for the center.
The wildlife rescue and rehabilitation nonprofit based in Sequim and run entirely by volunteers on private donations takes in injured, abused or orphaned wild animals.
Last year, the center raised and released a dozen orphaned baby barn owls with the help of two surrogate mother barn owls.
“This year’s owls are as rowdy and adorable as last year’s, and we hope they will also have the chance to fly free in the wild,” Moore said.
“Generally, we get baby owls when they are knocked out of the nest by siblings competing for food, and we take care of them with the help of surrogate parent owls who are permanent residents with incurable conditions who live at the center and help show the owlets the ropes.”
Although most of the owls were found locally, one baby barn owl was brought in from Bremerton after being discovered in a load of hay that had been transported from Idaho.
For more information about the center, visit www.NWRaptorCenter.com.
For photos of the owls, visit the center’s Facebook page.
