It is with a heavy heart that I share with you the passing of Shadow, one of our Great Horned Owls, on November 5th. Shadow arrived at the Wildlife Center of Virginia in 2014 where he was treated for multiple issues but, ultimately, was determined to be unable to fly adequately enough to return to the wild.

As a non-releasable bird he was transferred to Nature’s Nanny on May 10, 2015, becoming our very first Education Ambassador. In the role of ambassador Shadow traveled to numerous venues across the Hampton Roads region, giving thousands of people the opportunity to see this beautiful owl up close and learn about the important role his species had in helping maintain the balance of nature.

A few weeks ago, Shadow contracted a severe case of Avian Pox, a viral disease spread to birds by biting insects such as mosquitoes. With no known cure for this disease, we maintained an ongoing dialogue with a local veterinarian and provided all the supportive care that was possible, but the disease was too much for him to overcome. The NNWR family will greatly miss our Shadow.

Epilogue.
Subsequent to Shadow’s arrival at NNWR a second non-releasable Great Horned Owl, Sunny, came to NNWR. The question that arose was whether or not they would be compatible with each other and be able to share an enclosure or would territorial issues prevent that. For the first several months Shadow and Sunny were kept In separate enclosures well apart from one another, then Sunny was moved into a large cage in Shadow’s enclosure. After three weeks of getting acquainted face to face Sunny was allowed out of his cage and the bond between the two was clearly immediate. Sunny was present when Shadow passed away and we hope that will let him understand his buddy is gone. We will watch Sunny closely in the days ahead as he, and the NNWR family, adjust to the loss.