SAUGERTIES, New York, USA (AP) – An owl found dehydrated and hungry in the branches of the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has regained its appetite and as it is healthy it will be released into its habitat on Saturday
The male owl Aegolius acadicus was nicknamed Rockefeller after a worker discovered it Monday in the tree that was to be installed in Manhattan. The Norway spruce was cut 275 kilometers (170 miles) northwest of New York state and brought to Manhattan on Saturday.
The bird was taken to the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in the Hudson Valley, where it feeds on mice before they return it to its habitat, tentatively before dark Saturday.
“I just want to make sure he’s well fed before he leaves,” director Ellen Kalish told the Daily Freeman on Thursday. “He was a little thin when he arrived. Maybe he hadn’t eaten in days. So I just want to make sure that he is at his best weight and health, and then he goes away. “
According to Kalish, the owl is in “great shape” with apparently no bone fractures after being X-rayed. Kalish plans to release the bird from the center site in Saugerties, New York.
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