East Windsor residents concerned tree trimming harmed a pair of owls

Windsor residents woke up to a "devastating" discovery on the weekend when they found a dead owl and another that was severely injured.

Deanna Heydon, who lives in East Windsor, saidshe believes an owl's nest was cut down by a crew that was trimming branches to make way for wiresin the area last week. The birds, identified by local wildlife experts asEastern-Screech owls, are considered a priority species by the Canadian government.

The province's Fish and Wildlife Act also prohibits people from destroying the nests of wild birds.

"It was very, very disappointing to see that, being as owls aren't known to the neighbourhood, so to see something like that it was kind of devastating, especially to see there was a dead one," she said.

In an email to CBC News Thursday, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said its officers areaware of the situation and they areactively investigating.

Heydon spotted the owls Sunday morning after she heard her dog barking in the backyard. That's when she found the first owl that was still alive. A little later on, she saidher neighbours found a dead owl in their backyard.

Heydoncalled Erie Wildlife Rescue, but after not hearing back, she decided to bring the owl in to Lauzon Veterinary.

Eventually, the owl was transferredto Wings Rehab Centre in Amherstburg, where it is now recovering.

But Heydon believes whoever is responsible for hitting the nest should be held accountable.

"It's uncalled for," she said. "People that are qualified to do tree cutting jobs and stuff should know that stuff like this occurs in trees and to be careful of the nests."

She said the nest was quite big and "very noticeable" so there was "no reason" for it to be hit.

"They should have just left that branch alone," she said.

'I think he'll be OK'

Lynn Moor, wildlife coordinator at Wings Rehab Centre in Amherstburg, has been taking care of the adult owl.

"He was in pretty rough shape, he's coming around pretty good though," Moor said.

The owl's right eye is missing and it's very skinny, Moor said, though she suspects the eye injury happened a while ago.

At this time, the owl is in what Moor calls "intensive" care. It's only just started eating on its own, is kept warm and getting medicine put in its eye.

"Unfortunately with the eye I'm not sure if he's going to be releasable. That's a decision we'll have to make later," Moor said. "I think he'll be OK."

Moor said they've seen this sort of situation happen before, and she reminds people to fully check out a tree before cutting branches off or cutting the tree down to protect the animals that may be using it.

CBC News has reached out to the city, several telecommunications companies and an electrical company but has not been able to determine who might have been working in the area last week.