Every day miracles

Local residents share stories of holiday hope and incredible recovery.

NOTE: This article featured "everyday miracles" compiled by several Current Publishing reporters. I've only included my section, plus the lead-in, which I believe was written by Managing Editor Ben Bragdon.

Miracles are often described as amazing and larger than life, cases of divine intervention that suspend the laws of nature and make the impossible possible.

But miracles happen every day, right in our own backyards. A one-eyed owl shows a remarkable will to live of the coast of Maine, a Raymond man’s car is crushed by an 18-wheeler, and suddenly he feels more fortunate than ever, and a family’s beloved dog somehow pulls through after a horrible accident.

Sometimes, an injury to an animal shows just how powerful is our will to survive. And sometimes it turns out that life really is a matter of inches.

A FIRST OF ITS KIND

Somewhere out over Casco Bay right now, there is an owl who survived, who may give birth to others, and whose survival may help others like her, simply because a few humans cared enough to help.

A great-horned owl, nicknamed Gho (“Gee-ho”), was found one year ago, the day after Christmas, face down in a snow bank on Hope Island, off the coast of Cumberland in Casco Bay. She was weak at the time of her discovery, nearly emaciated, with head trauma that would eventually leave her blind in her right eye.

Island owners John and Phyllis Cacoulidis, who know the owl as “Hootie,” loaded her into a pet carrier and brought her across the bay to the Animal Emergency Clinic in Portland, where Dr. Mel Vassey was able to stabilize her condition. The eye damage was permanant, however, so Gho was brought to the York Center for Wildlife (CFW), in Cape Neddick.

“Some winters we can actually see 50 or 60 owls with similar injuries,” said Kristen Lamb, director for education and outreach at the nonprofit center. “Generally, we presume they come to us having been hit by cars. After all, they know what they’re doing in the wild, they don’t fly into trees.”

Lamb suspects Gho was hit on the mainland, perhaps struck while swooping to snatch some small animal as it was dashing across the highway, and, somehow, made its way back to the island, which appears to be her home base.

Founded 25 years ago, the York Center for Wildlife provides medical care and for sick, injured and orphaned wildlife – including birds, mammals and reptiles – until they can be released back into the wild. The work is daunting – with more than 1,600 animals treated per year, including up to 70 calls per day during the peak summer season – and is done primarily via donations and volunteer labor, augmenting a staff of just five full-time specialists.

For Gho, however, her vision problems meant a probable permanent home inside the center’s 100-foot flight enclosure.

“We always want to do the right thing for the bird,” explains Lamb. “When we release our wild animals we want to be sure they can do everything they need to do survive in the wild. We never want to release compromised animals that aren’t going to make it in.”

But Gho was doing so well, recovered so fully, that the center’s doctors decided to take a chance on her. Teaming with the Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham, specialists placed a transmitter on Gho and released her back into the wild on Oct. 20.

“We now have two month’s worth of data and she’s doing great,” Lamb said. “We’re really excited that she’s been able to take care of herself, especially in winter.

“Whether to release a one-eyed owl or not has been something that has perplexed wildlife rehabilitators for a long time,” said Lamb, explaining that, because there is almost no state of federal funding for wildlife rehabilitations, nobody has known if a bird like Gho could survive on its own.

“We know owls use their excellent sense of hearing to hunt, so we supposed they were not as dependent on binocular vision as other diurnal raptors, but we really had nothing to go on,” Lamb said. “So, this has really been one of the first post-release studies of its kind.”

The pilot program also is helping to gather data for use in understanding all of Maine’s island-dwelling owls, with the hope that the techniques tested there can be used with other poorly studied species.

“One thing that’s been interesting is that we’ve seen an alternating flight path,” Lamb said. “She’ll spend one night on the outer islands and the next closer inland. We’re interested to know if this is behavior unique to her condition, or if we can learn something about all owls. We’re kind of observing all this and recording some baseline data.”

There will be time to study the question. The battery on the transmitter Gho wears is good for 18 months, meaning she’ll send the wildlife center plenty of data by the time it runs out.

The cost of the transmitter, along with data analysis and staff time, came to $5,000. The Cacoulidises came through with $2,000, while longtime center supporter Eddie Woodin stepped up with a $1,000 challenge grant.

“We have a large demand for our service, but it’s only because the community cares so much,” Lamb said. “We can’t do any of the work we do without all of the volunteers and donors who support us. We are always very inspired by the interest of people in the community who want to help.”