May 19 (UPI) -- A great horned owl found covered in concrete was released back into the wild after undergoing surgery to replace its damaged feathers.
The Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab brought the owl to its Wild Friends rehabilitation center after it was found with 25% of its body covered in concrete inside a mixer in St. George in November.
The owl underwent several days of care involving 20-minute baths to slowly remove the concrete.
The process left the owl with damage to its feathers that prevented it from flying silently, a necessary feature for great horned owls to survive in the wild.
Rehab workers had expected the owl to molt and grow new feathers at the start of spring, but the process turned out to not go as expected.
