Love Creek County Park has taken in an injured owl that will now be a permanent resident of the facility. Berrien County Chief Naturalist Derek Pelc tells us Whoolio was brought to the park by a wildlife rehab center in Vicksburg back in July.
“He was brought in with an injured left wing,” Pelc said. “It was either likely due to a car strike or potentially going in quickly for a prey item or maybe clipping his wing on a branch or a rock or something like that.”
Whoolio can no longer fly and would be unlikely to survive in the wild. So, now he lives at a habitat built for him at Love Creek. Pelc says once Whoolio is fully healed, the goal is to use him as a wildlife ambassador at schools and other locations around the county.
“That is our goal for him, in hopes that students and adults alike will want to protect the habitat that they live in, so that screech owls in the while will always have a good habitat to live in.”
Whoolio is an eastern screech owl, a species native to the region. Pelc says anyone can pay him a visit at the nature center at Love Creek County Park, which is open Wednesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Be advised Whoolio is nocturnal and just might be sleeping if you stop by.
