From the South Whidbey Record, by Roy Jacobson:

Freeland - A visitor from Spokane found a fuzzy surprise while walking on the beach at Mutiny Bay beach last week. "I thought it might be an owl," Sasha Carey said. "It definitely didn't belong there."

Carey, on a week's visit to South Whidbey with a number of family members, was walking in a group of eight, mostly children, along the beach near the cliffs when she spotted something under a ledge. It was a fuzzy white infant barn owl, about the size of a pineapple. "I could tell it was injured," Carey said. "I wasn't sure what to do with it."

When her approach was greeted with several claws and pecks, she returned to her rental condo and called the local rescue group Oasis for Animals in Langley. She reached Lynda McCormick of Greenbank, who passed on some instructions based on her 10 years experience rescuing wildlife. She told Carey to approach the bird behind a large towel, place the towel over the owl, pick it up by the shoulders like a Thanksgiving turkey and put it in a box. And watch out for the talons!

Carey was advised to cover the box with the towel, and keep the owl quiet and in the dark overnight. Carey followed instructions to the letter. Thursday morning, Jean Favini, another Oasis volunteer, arrived to take the injured raptor to PAWS Wildlife Hospital in Lynnwood.

"It was definitely a very young nestling," McCormick said. "It was sitting on its bum with its feet sticking out in front - too young even to stand."

"She did a great job," McCormick said of Carey. "It's not something that everybody would try to do. I don't think I could have done it better."

Unfortunately, the owl had a broken leg, and the leg bone had died, McCormick said. She speculated that the bird either fell out of its nest, was pushed out by siblings, or might have been carried out by a predator. In any case, it was determined by veterinarians  at the PAWS Lynnwood hospital that the owlet would never be able to function with one leg, and would surely die of hunger or be quickly killed. The decision was made to euthanize.

"At least it didn't have to suffer for as long as it would have," said Carey. "I'm glad that I was able to get him out of there, and I'm glad to know how to do this if I need to next time." Carey, 41, a pediatrician, said this was her family's first visit to Whidbey. "We loved it. It was definitely hard to leave, I can tell you that. We'll be back."

Oasis for Animals has served Whidbey Island with the help of about two dozen volunteers since 2001.

To find out what to do if you find an injured or orphaned wild animal or bird, visit the PAWS rescue Web site at http://www.paws.org/wildlife/injured/.