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The Skunk Whisperer® wildlife professional Chris Greenlee was recently called upon to help an Edmond family with an interesting situation – federally protected barn owls in their chimney. The Vanantwerpen family in Edmond, Oklahoma had been living with the uninvited and troublesome barn owls in their chimney for about seven months. During that time owls had given birth to several chicks also known as “owlets” or “owlings”.

When interviewed on the situation Mr. Vanantwerpen said “We have noticed that even though we live next to a huge open field, we certainly have no mouse or rodent problems because of the free pest control the owls offer. Once the young were able to fly, they just sat on the gutters and watched as their mother taught them how to hunt. Gradually, they all started hunting and coming back to the gutter, the roof top or chimney to eat their fresh dinners.” Eventually the owls began to create a lot of trouble for the Vanantwerpens and the surrounding neighborhood, to the point where many of the neighbors were beginning to feel “terrorized” by the owls. Neighbors were afraid to let their smaller dogs out of the house for fear of losing them to the owls. And the owls were actually damaging many of the homes with their large talons and making a stinky mess as well, including leaving feces on houses and dropping bugs down the Vanantwerpen’s fireplace. Although the neighborhood wanted to do something about their barn owl situation, they also wanted to do the right thing for the owls, a species which is federally protected. The Vanantwerpens had even expressed a desire to provide them with a new home nearby, an owl box for them to relocate to once they had been excluded from their chimney.

Federal protection restrictions made the situation a challenging one, but The Skunk Whisper®’s area wildlife management professional Chris Greenlee was up for the task. The Skunk Whisperer®, Inc. coordinated efforts with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation and wildlife rehabilitators in California and Oklahoma to be certain that the owl family’s eviction was being done at a time when it would impact the owl family the least. Chris Greenlee of The Skunk Whisperer®’s Oklahoma City office said “We were first called in April when they were just eggs. They were complaining, along with their neighbors, that the owls were ‘not such a hoot’ because they were defecating all over their homes, leaving owl pellets everywhere and scratching up their windowsills with their huge talons. We asked the client if we could do the right thing for the birds and wait, and they quickly agreed. I built a barn owl nesting box and mounted it 30 yards away on a nearby, outdoor fireplace chimney. They know that my nesting box is there, because there are signs that the owls have been on and in it several times. It is nice to see a family decide to be heroes for the animals like this family did here. Others may have lit a fire in order to ‘take care of the problem’. We enjoy seeing people want to coexist with wildlife”. To ensure proper construction of the owl’s new home, The Skunk Whisperer® obtained owl house plans from expert Alex Godbe of the Hungry Owl Project in San Anselmo, CA. The owl box was then constructed and erected on a nearby chimney for a few months prior to the owl family’s eviction. Godbe said “Since there are no trees around, the chicks might want to return to the nest site for a few weeks after that, so the longer they are left, the better it is for them”. Chris Greenlee said “Although time did not allow me to follow the owl box plans 100%, the owls did not seem to mind because they certainly have utilized it, even before they were evicted from the chimney”. Annette King-Tucker of Wild Heart Ranch wildlife rehabilitation center in Claremore, commented on the situation, “This nuisance owl problem will be reconciled with the ultimate goal in mind, which is keeping the owls’ well being top priority. The Owlings were raised in this inherited territory. They were taught to hunt here by their skilled parents. The optimum survival statistics will be achieved for this group by simply allowing them to remain in their existing territory, perhaps even 30 yards away in the nesting box that has now been provided for them”. Once it was time to evict the owls from the chimney, the owl family was gently encouraged to leave by simply whispering the word “shoo”. Next, the chimney was altered to keep them from re-entering. Some of the owls will likely move into the new owl home created for them, whereas others will likely move on to greener pastures. Chris Greenlee said of the experience, “We enjoy having clients like this family call and want to do the right things, for the animals”. Betsey and Ned Bruha said “Kudos to Chris for doing yet another impeccable job, keeping customer service and the animals’ best interest as top priority. We are very proud of Chris, his compassion, successes and accomplishments.” Read News 9′s Story

A wild canada goose was recently discovered in a suburban area with an arrow shot through its chest. After several capture attempts failed, The Skunk Whisperer® Team including Stormy Cole, Ned Bruha and his wife Betsey joined the mission to help remedy the difficult situation. After 40 minutes of chasing and coaxing, the goose was finally caught by the skillful Skunk Whisperer team and transported to wildlife rehabilitator Annette King Tucker. The goose is expected to live but may never be able to fly again.

More On The Story

Many people call The Skunk Whisperer® about injured geese. Most injured goose calls take many hours of time and literally turn into “wild goose chases”, only further jeopardizing the goose’s health. If the geese are faster than we are, which they usually are, it simply cannot be taken to a rehabber. Most nuisance goose problems are caused by humans feeding them, therefore advocating them to appear in large numbers.

In this particular instance, the goose had been shot through the chest and was in a hazardous predicament with a wound that would eventually take its toll. Once The Skunk Whisperer® became aware of the situation, the Tulsa office immediately deployed a Skunk Whisperer team including Stormy Cole, Ned and Betsey Bruha. Stormy Cole, a Skunk Whisperer wildlife management professional, told reporters “I did not want to hop in a pond in late November, but I would do it in a heartbeat if I had to”.

Normally, a proper injured goose capture takes a dozen people, special equipment and hours of time, Single geese can be as tough to capture as greased pigs, but the team had a better chance of capturing this one because it would be slowed down by the arrow. As it turned out, the team had to chase the goose around for 40 minutes before catching it, so the arrow ended up not slowing the goose down much at all.

Once captured, the arrow was cut at two points to reduce additional trauma to the goose during its transport to the Wild Heart Ranch wildlife rehab facility. Ned Bruha said “It feels great knowing that we were able to save an animal’s life that day, but it is a shame that somebody did this to the goose. I am embarrassed to be a member of a species that would do something as senseless as needlessly shooting this goose and knowingly allow it to suffer. Wildlife should not be used for target practice”. Betsey Bruha adds “This goose was likely shot nearby, in town. I do not know if somebody was looking for a free Thanksgiving bird or what, but I hope that the person who needlessly shot this federally protected bird with this arrow reads this story and decides to never hunt again”.

Thanks to wildlife rehabilitator Annette King-Tucker, this animal will live to see another day. Ned commented “We salute wildlife rehabilitators all over the world who have selflessly dedicated their lives to saving the animals that we place in these situations. Annette is my hero and has made me a better person, allowing me massive amounts of knowledge, via her experience, to further assist wildlife in need of rehabilitation. During this “season of giving” please seriously consider donating funds and supplies to wildlife rehabilitators such as Annette King-Tucker”.

Related Information

Injured Goose Is Trapped, Rescued
The story behind the chase and capture of the injured goose, as well as input from The Skunk Whisperer team and information on it’s recovery from wildlife rehabber Annette King Tucker.

Canada Goose Control
Input from The Skunk Whisperer on Canada Goose wildlife and information on our goose control services.

Information on Canada Geese Management
Additional and helpful information, including more on goose control and parking lot problem scenarios. Goose Control, Management and Relocation | Canada Geese In Parking Lots – Problems & Solutions

Once upon a time there was a hungry skunk who went on a journey to find something good to eat. Imagine his excitement when he discovered a tasty jar of peanut butter. But this presented a challenge, the only way he could reach the yummy peanut butter at the bottom of the jar was to stick his head all the way inside. But once his head went inside he could not get it back out. Our skunk now found his head completely stuck in the peanut butter jar he’d once been so happy to find – quite the predicament indeed. Eventually, a nice lady came across the frustrated skunk and called Skunk Whisperer Ned Bruha for help.

After some phone calls to the proper authorities Ned was able to obtain the required permission to remove the jar and set the skunk free. Some gentle handling and the skunk was soon freed and on his way home.

The story was filmed by KOTV in Tulsa and was quickly picked up by both national and international news, and was seen on The CBS Morning Show, CNN, BBC and other media sources around the world. The response was staggering with input pouring in from across the globe. Many viewers wondered why there had been a delay in removing the jar, causing concern and even a parody skit on the Bonnie Hunt show.

A video essay about the predicaments the skunk and Ned got themselves into – the original story is presented in the video to the left and the Bonnie Hunt Show recap can be found to the right.

Why Things Were Done The Way They Were: To some viewers it appeared that the skunk was not rescued as promptly as it should have been, for instance, the Bonnie Hunt Show was initially critical of Ned for not postponing his interview until after the peanut butter jar had been removed and the skunk was freed from his predicament. However, it is important for viewers to understand that the rescue process could not take place until special permission had been received from the state of Oklahoma. Consequently, most of the filming and interview were conducted while Skunk Whisperer Ned Bruha was waiting for this permission from the state, a process which took approximately one hour. The special permission was required from the state because Oklahoma laws normally mandate death or relocation of the skunk in such situations. Although Ned and the person who requested help wanted to simply remove the jar and let the skunk go, they could not do so before receiving state permission or Bruha could have lost his state permit to practice wildlife control. If the skunk had been transported to a wildlife rehabilitator with the jar on his head, the situation would have become even more stressful for the skunk and it would have sprayed those around him. As the situation turned out, permission was received, Ned was able to gently calm down the flustered skunk with chloroform, release it from the jar and everybody walked away happy – including the skunk. Local station KOTV also ran a follow up story explaining why the rescue of the skunk had to be delayed.

One of our most popular media stories, the skunk with the peanut butter jar stuck on his head was also featured in an episode on Animal Planet’s Weird, True and Freaky. Although Ned commented “it was less dramatic in person than it appeared on the show.”

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