Sandy Rosenblatt was out on a little nature walk off the beaten path along the C&O Canal in Maryland, and everything seemed fairly quiet and peaceful. She loves looking for wildlife whenever she’s out on her walks, and was therefore thrilled when she suddenly spotted a baby owl — but immediately realized that something was wrong.
The tiny owl was sitting in the river, and Rosenblatt knew he shouldn’t be there.
“I watched for a moment or so,” Rosenblatt said. “It was not flailing, flapping or struggling. It was just sitting. I got [that] this was not normal and it must be stuck and possibly in shock.”
Wanting to help, Rosenblatt waded into the river, took off her jacket and used it to scoop up the little owl and wrap him up like a baby. She carried him to safety and just held him, trying to warm him up a bit. She expected him to put up a fight while being held by a random stranger, but he was so calm, and Rosenblatt took that as a signal that he had indeed needed help.
“I think he was in shock when I went to get him out of the river,” Rosenblatt speculated. “Maybe he was not shocked and realized I was assisting him, and he was just grateful.” “I will never know,” says the narrator.
Rosenblatt tried calling a bunch of different rescues, but by that point in the evening, they were all closed. She eventually called animal control and made them promise that they would bring the baby owl to a rescue that could care for him properly. Animal control was super busy that night, so it took them a while to get out to Rosenblatt and the baby owl. While she waited, she held the little bird and made him feel safe and warm, and that seemed to be all he really needed.
“It began to pep and perk up quite a bit and began to make ‘cheep cheep’ noises,” Rosenblatt said. “It started to watch and follow the bugs flying by.”
Finally, animal control arrived and took the baby owl to the Owl Moon Raptor Center. Rosenblatt had asked animal control to pass on her number to the rescue so that they could update her about her new little friend. They forgot to pass on her number, but taped a paper with her name to the top of the owl’s carrier — and when he arrived at the rescue, they assumed that was his name and stuck with it.
Rosenblatt was eventually able to get in touch with the rescue regardless, and was touched that he was being called Sandy in her honor. It wasn’t long before Sandy the owl was ready to be released back into the wild along with another owl, and the rescue invited Rosenblatt to be there to watch him return home.
When Rosenblatt discovered the young owl in the water, she realized he shouldn’t be there, and Sandy the owl was grateful that she dragged him to safety and provided him the assistance he needed.
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