Popcorn Park Credits Three Young Boys With Helping To Save Trapped Owl In Construction Pipe

LACEY TOWNSHIP - Three young boys riding their bikes to a pond behind a new development were in the right place at the right time.

They went looking for frogs. Little work had been done on the property except for curbing on the streets and 14-inch wide pipes sunk three to four feet in the ground.

One of the boys found a frog stuck at the bottom of one of the pipes. The boys started looking for something to get the frog out. They heard a noise coming from another in-ground pipe.

When they peered in, they saw it was not another frog. It was a large Great Horned Owl with two brilliant yellow eyes looking up at them. He was stuck in the pipe, unable to open his wings to fly up and out of the pipe. The pipe was too deep for him to try to jump out, according to an account on the Popcorn Park Zoo's Facebook page.

The boys called their father and Lacey police. The police couldn't find anything to help free the owl, so they called Popcorn Park.

"Given the heat and the sun beating down on the pipe we rushed there, bringing with us some gloves and a towel," the post - written by Popcorn Park Director John Bergmann - states. "Sure enough there was a fledgling Great Horned owl stuck at the bottom of the pipe. He was just out of reach of our veterinarian’s glove. He wasn’t too happy with us and as the glove got close he reached out and attacked it with his talons, holding on just long enough to pull him out to safety."

The owl was very thin and dehydrated, so they brought him to Popcorn Park, gave him fluids, let him rest and fed him some thawed frozen mice later. The owl ate six of them.

"These young guys were in the right place at the right time and cared enough to reach out for help," the post states. "If they hadn't found him, he would have been trapped in the pipe to die from heat and starvation."

The next morning the owl was feeling much better. He was taken to Toms River Avian Care to join other rescued owls. They will all be released later in the summer.

Bergmann also called the development's construction company to tell them to cap the deadly pipes.

"Some of you may know that our veterinarian, Dr. Jonathan Bergmann, is also my son," Bergmann wrote. "We’re lucky enough to work together doing what we both love, but it was a little extra special this Father’s Day, not only for the owl, but for me, too."

Photos: Courtesy of Popcorn Park Animal Shelter