When their tree home was blown down in December’s big storm in Charters Towers, two baby owls were found by a cattle farmer who was inspecting the damage on his property. He took the babies home, but was justifiably a little wary of trying to raise two owls in his budgerigar aviary along with his beloved little birds.

The cattle farmer rang his local vet and police station who told him about North Queensland’s well-known wildlife rescuer, Harry Kunz of Ravenshoe. While Harry was happy to add the baby owls to his already crowded native wildlife orphanage, the problem was distance. How to collect the owls from over 300 kilometers away?

The cattle farmer then asked his stock agent who collected cattle from him that morning if Ravenshoe was on his route north. The stock agent also wanted to help the owls but was on a strict timetable; he could swing out of his way towards Mt Garnet, but into Ravenshoe and back would be impossible.

When asked, Harry said he could reach the designated drop zone in between baby feeding times at Eagles Nest, so the deal was struck.

In typical laid-back North Queensland style, a good-hearted cattle agent met a wildlife carer by the side of the road at 2 pm in the dry savannah country 60 kilometers west from Ravenshoe, to hand over two small balls of fluff.

In less than a week, the two balls of fluff have developed not just huge appetites that have helped them double in size, but active enquiring personalities that allow them to interact happily with their carers. Although the owls are still too young to be accurately identified, Harry believes they could be Barking Owls which are currently on Australia’s Vulnerable Species list.

The owlets thrive at Eagles Nest and within weeks are ready for their next journey: to an owlry on the coast to learn how to be owls with other owls.

At the owlry, the two owlets learn quickly and are successfully released back to the wild within weeks.