Rescued owls will be released at Rice days before Halloween

MEDIA ADVISORY

Katharine Shilcutt
713-348-6760
kshilcutt@rice.edu

Rescued owls will be released at Rice days before Halloween
Houston SPCA rehabilitated severely injured owl found on campus last spring

HOUSTON – (Oct. 8, 2019) – A screech owl with head trauma was found on the campus of Rice University in March 2019 and quickly taken to the Houston SPCA’s Wildlife Center of Texas. Over the next seven months, the center rehabilitated the owl to the point that it’s now ready to return to its natural habitat.

An injured owl rescued at Rice will be released back into his natural habitat along with two new friends Oct. 25. (Photo courtesy of Houston SPCA Wildlife Center of Texas)

The owl also bonded with two younger screech owls who were recovering from other injuries.

At dusk on Oct. 25, the trio will take flight together as they’re returned to the wild near Rice University’s Moody Center for the Arts. Rice adopted the owl as its mascot in 1912, and many owls continue to make their homes in the tree-lined campus to this day.

This event will coincide with the launch of the Houston SPCA’s Young Professionals group and will feature light bites and music. The event is free, but registration is required and space is limited.

What: Release of three rehabilitated screech owls on the campus of Rice University

Who:  Houston SPCA’s Wildlife Center of Texas

When: Oct. 25, 6-9 p.m.

Where: Rice University, Moody Center for the Arts, 6100 Main St.

To register, visit houstonspca.org/news-and-events. For a Rice University map and parking information visit parking.rice.edu.

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

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Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,970 undergraduates and 2,934 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for quality of life and for lots of race/class interaction and No. 4 for happiest students by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.