Owls, majestic creatures of the night, have made their way into the hearts of young adults everywhere. One cannot walk into a bookstore or Walmart without seeing shelves stocked with owl merchandise. Though often seen as a symbol of wisdom, one owl in particular represents the workings of a miracle. Martin Perilloux of Physical Plant found the severely injured barred owl under a tree near the basketball arena. Perilloux then called the Wings of Hope Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, where the owl recovered. “I’m not going to lie, I really didn’t think he was going to make it,” said Alex Breaux, a freshman pre-veterinary major who works at Wings of Hope. “He had some spinal trauma, and he wasn’t eating on his own. He was in pretty rough shape. But after some medications, therapy and forced feeding, you see him right now. He’s getting ready to go.” After approximately a month of rehabilitation, the owl’s condition soared from paralysis to complete recovery, which was made evident by his graceful gliding across the flight cage in which he was kept. According to Leslie Lattimore, founder and director of Wings of Hope, the facility was established 15 years ago. Approximately 500 to 600 animals come to heal at Wings of Hope each year. The only animals not permitted at the sanctuary are white tailed deer, for fear of spreading chronic waste disease amongst the deer population in Louisiana. Run by only three employees and several volunteers, the sanctuary welcomed Breaux as an official employee after a year of volunteering for his senior project. “I went to Denham Springs High School, and we did a thing called senior project,” said Breaux. “It’s basically a yearlong speech. You have to have a mentor, write an eight-page paper, blah, blah, blah. I’ve been interested in animals since I was knee high to a cricket, and I was going to work with vet’s offices, but then I remembered bringing a bird to this place when I was in eighth grade. [I thought] ‘Maybe that ought to be worth it. Everybody’s going to be doing theirs on vets and doctors. Maybe I should do mine on something different.’ Sure enough, I came out here and started volunteering.” As a pre-veterinary major, Breaux views his job at the Wings of Hope not only as preparation for his future career, but a fulfillment of his passion for animals. Though the employees at Wings of Hope are deeply committed to the animals that they care for, they try to interact with the animals as little as possible. Lattimore discusses the reasoning behind this by explaining the phenomenon of imprinting. “After they go in the flight cage, we try not to do any hands-on,” said Lattimore. “It wasn’t too much of a problem with him since he was already an adult, but when we get them as babies, we call it imprinting, and that’s the last thing that we want to do, is imprint them. Imprinting means that they don’t recognize their species, and so they would imprint on people. They’d think people would be their mates. It could be extremely dangerous to people. In fact, it is very dangerous to people. I have scars to prove that.” It is important for people to realize that even the most beautiful of animals can be dangerous. Lattimore gives some advice for those who find an injured animal. “At all cost, protect yourself. Always wear gloves and safety glasses, and then call your nearest rehabilitator,” said Lattimore. Breaux brought the owl to Southeastern to release him back into the wild after making a full recovery. The owl took flight on Monday, Sept. 16, ready to live another day.