Every bird taken in at the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center is treated so that it can be released back into the wild, but the lone surviving barn owl rescued from a business in Alcoa last June would not be able to survive in the wild.
Willow, the surviving barn owl, suffered a broken leg. Though surgery was successful, Natalie Mong with the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center says Willow would not be able to grip and hold her prey well enough to feed herself.
"The first four weeks we were concerned if she would survive from the surgery and any infections she had from having the wound open for several days," Mong said. "After that, it was concern about the neurological damage in her leg and down into her foot."
For five months after she was found, Willow was in custody of wildlife leaders while the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Blount County Sheriff's Office investigated the case. It wasn't until December that the bird was released to the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center.
"We knew in October that she wasn't going to be releasable, or it was highly unlikely, but we still had to treat her as if she was releasable," Mong said. "There was that concern that she wouldn't, having been abused by humans, was she going to have the temperament and the trust to be manned and handled by humans."
Last year the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center took in 52 birds. Most of those are treated and later released, but around nine birds are not able to released back into the wild for various reasons.
With the prognosis that Willow would not be able to be released, the center needed to expand to build a new mew, or bird house, for her. Through a fundraiser from Three Rivers Market, discounted lumber and volunteer labor, Mong says the center will be able to build the mew.
The birds that live at the Smoky Mountain Raptor Center are used for educational demonstrations at schools and for other events. Mong says they are working to have Willow included in a program that expands the lesson beyond just birds of prey.
"We're talking about putting her into a program where we go into schools and talk to kids about bullying, because she was bullied," Mong said. "We're always looking for avenues to take these birds and reach children and adults on different levels, so talking to kids about bullying and how picking on somebody that's helpless or smaller than you is not right."
TWRA spokesman Matt Cameron said the investigation is still open.
The agency said in June that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and TBI would be in charge of processing the evidence. Cameron said on Sunday that the agency is still waiting from results from forensic testing results.
TWRA is asking anyone with information about the incident to call the TWRA Violation hotline at 1-800-831-1174. TWRA has not identified any suspects or persons of interest at this time but if charged, the person(s) responsible for the crime could face felony and misdemeanor charges.