Saugus family releases owl back into wild

SAUGUS – Woodsy the barn owl is back home in Saugus after a local family helped save the bird.Christopher Taylor, 21, was home from the Coast Guard visiting his family at their home on Dewey street in February. After grabbing a late-night bite with some friends at Kelly’s Roast Beef on Route 1, Taylor said he saw several people standing around an injured owl in the parking lot.”It was just laying in the parking lot,” he said. “I asked what they were doing and they didn’t really know what to do, so I kind of took charge ? Kelly’s gave me a box to put the owl in and I covered it with a towel.”Taylor said he then headed to his parents’ house, but not before giving them a heads up.”I called my mom along the way and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got an owl coming,'” he said.Luckily the Taylors are no strangers to animals as they boast a slew of pets, including two dogs, six cats, an Amazon parrot, a sugar glider, which is a kind of possum; and three rabbits.Taylor and his mom, Darlene Taylor, then made a few phone calls and finally got in touch with the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton. They drove there that night to drop off the owl.”We drove out at midnight and brought him out there,” said Darlene Taylor. “She had a fractured wing and some head trauma. They surmised she flew into a car or a building or something.”On Thursday, Darlene Taylor brought the owl, which they named Woodsy, back to her Saugus home to release her back into the wild.”Everything went excellent,” she said. “The owl went right out of the box and up into the trees. It was awesome. He hung around for a couple hours and then it got dark and he took off, much to our disappointment.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].