A great horned owl that found itself tangled in a soccer goal at the University of Illinois Springfield is expected to make a full recovery.
The owl is regaining its strength at the Henson Robinson Zoo, and zoo director Talon Thornton says the owl will be released early next week — just not too close to the soccer fields.
“He was probably chasing a rabbit at night and didn’t see the back end of that soccer net and flew right into it,” Thornton says. “And then in the struggle to get out, he just got his feet tangled and his head tangled.”
Thornton says the owl probably was stuck there all day until children and their parents showed up for soccer games that evening. The fields east of the UIS campus are home to YMCA youth soccer leagues.
The story was featured in a August 28, 2010, edition of The State Journal-Register.
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