THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602060103
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
When a motorist driving not far from the county courthouse one morning early in December realized something had struck the radio antenna on his car, he took the time to stop and investigate.
He found an owl.
To a lot of folks, it might have been just another bird. To this man, it was one of God's creatures. Rather than leave the bird dying on the side of the road, he called animal control.
Not only did he make the call, he stayed with the bird, his emergency flashers going, until animal control officer Bob Howell arrived.
``He was really nice,'' Howell recalled. ``He was waiting for me when I got there, and he pointed out where the owl was.''
Howell picked up the barred owl and took it to Dr. Robert M. May Jr., a Smithfield veterinarian who arrived in the county just a few months ago after practicing for several years in Norfolk. He already has gotten a bit of a reputation as a bird man.
When he was growing up in southern Georgia, May was always taking home injured animals, he said, always trying to help them. Later, studying at Auburn University, he was active in the school's raptorial rehabilitation program.
``We didn't see many of these birds while I was in Norfolk. I'm kind of glad to be out here, back with them. I love doing this.''
X-rays revealed the bird, dubbed ``Hooty'' by May and his office staff, had a broken wing. May inserted a pin into the owl's wing, and Hooty has been recovering for almost two months.
Hooty is a magnificent specimen, with its striped feather vest, which designates its species. May guesses Hooty is probably what he calls a fledgling, perhaps having been hatched as recently as last spring. Under May's care, eating a diet of mostly raw chicken and pulverized bones to add calcium, the bird has almost doubled its original 1 pound 4 ounces weight since he arrived at the animal hospital.
``He's an obese bird now,'' May said, laughing.
The doctor, his office staff and customers have enjoyed having Hooty around, office assistant Michelle Ford said. The bird has never tried to attack or bite since it got to the clinic, she said.
``He's partial to Bob,'' she said. ``He knows who's been feeding him.''
``He watches everything I do,'' May said, smiling at Hooty as he gazed into the bird's eyes. ``He doesn't miss a thing. He'll focus on the slightest movement.''
From his lower-level cage just outside an examination room, Ford said Hooty stretches its neck to the limit to observe everything that goes on in the office. You almost forget it's there, she said, until you turn around and see those huge eyes.
The doctor pulled the pin from the owl's wing about two weeks ago. Since then, it's been learning how to fly again and has been put on a diet. May wants Hooty in top shape come Saturday, when it will be released on a 210-acre farm, which has at least a mile of marsh. There, the bird should be able to find everything it needs: mice, rats, maybe a rabbit now and then.
Since May came to Smithfield, Hooty is his third or fourth owl patient. He's also tended a hawk, an injured deer, a couple of geese.
The owl is living today because somebody cared, because it happened to be hit by a decent human being who doesn't take the life of any animal lightly. It would be nice if there were more of his kind around.
If you happened to hit an owl - or the owl hit you, whichever way it may have been - on Peanut Drive around the first of December, you know now that the creature is alive and doing well.
In just a couple of days, it'll return to the wild, to become a part of this natural environment that should be important to everyone.
On another note, a chapter of Smithfield history closed recently when former Mayor Henry Sykes died.
I saw Mr. Sykes just before Christmas at the county museum, when he had stopped by to drop off a contribution to the museum's recent World War II exhibit.
He was using a cane, but his greeting was just as warm, his handshake just as firm, as ever.
Mr. Sykes left a long list of community contributions behind. He was the town's first volunteer fire chief and an active member of the Rotary Club. He served on the Town Council as mayor and vice mayor, and he was on the county School Board for years.
It's hard to believe he was 88 when he died. He was still going strong, as they say, just a few weeks before he died.
And he was, always, like a living history of the town of Smithfield. I could have listened to him for hours tell about the town of his youth.
Whatever he had to say was always straightforward, with just the necessary amount of humor added to make the tale interesting.
Isle of Wight County will miss him. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Dr. Bob May with ``Hooty,'' the owl he nursed back to health.
by CNB