WHO are you calling Goalie? How Hawthorn Woods neighbors, workers freed owl from a soccer net
A great horned owl tangled in a soccer net was rescued Friday morning by Hawthorn Woods residents, village groundskeepers and a dog with a good sense of smell.
Lauren Vondrasek left her Hawthorn Woods home about 6:30 a.m. to walk her Goldendoodle named Roo. Usually a creature of habit, Roo led Vondrasek off their normal route to a nearby soccer field.
"Roo led me directly to this amazing owl trapped in the soccer net," Vondrasek recalled. "It was at the very bottom of the net. Maybe it was hunting a rodent or a bunny and got stuck."
Vondrasek said she could tell the owl had been struggling for a while because of how thoroughly enmeshed it was in the net. Her first thought was how to help.
She called 911 and was advised by the friendly dispatcher to call an animal rescue organization instead.
Vondrasek walked Roo back home while calling rescue groups but found none had opened yet. She quickly returned to the soccer field equipped with a pair of gloves and some snippers, and she began cutting the net.
"I was a little scared. He would flap his wings and his beak was snapping away trying to nip at me," Vondrasek said.
Minutes later, three village groundskeepers arrived to tend to the field, and Vondrasek quickly recruited them to the cause.
"I told them what was going on and they jumped into action," Vondrasek said.
Working together, the group slowly snipped away at the net. Though the owl, whom they'd nicknamed Goalie, was upset throughout the rescue, Vondrasek said the bird gradually calmed down but still appeared quite vexed.
Since the owl did not immediately fly away once freed from the net, one of the groundskeepers covered it with a coat and placed it in a cardboard box atop a wagon that another neighbor had brought for use as an improvised stretcher.
Vondrasek dragged the owl home in the wagon, calling animal rescue services along the way. She went inside her house briefly, leaving the owl to rest in the box on the driveway.
When Vondrasek returned, she found the owl had flown away.
"I was super excited to see he was OK and able to fly," Vondrasek said.
She walked back to the soccer field to thank the groundskeepers and tell them their new owl friend had taken flight. The group later spotted it perched on a nearby cell tower.
When they went to get a closer look, the owl screeched and flew off toward the forest.
"He seemed to be flying like a champ," Vondrasek said. "We were just so excited to help him out."