Owl Snagged in High School Net is Freed

By Priya Persaud

A nocturnal owl flew into and got entangled in a local school sports field net. The owl was trapped there for hours, until discovered and freed – unharmed – by two of the school groundskeepers. The video featuring the golden-eyed owl being freed by two groundskeepers in the South Huntington district has become a viral sensation on the internet.

The owl was ensnared and freed from a baseball net at the Walt Whitman High School in Huntington, by two local staffers, a heroic feat commended and publicized by school officials.

After a night out hunting field mice, the golden-eyed owl flew into the baseball net, and its talons became entangled in the netting. The next morning, a passing jogger noticed the animal’s ordeal and alerted two groundskeepers, Balise Addeo and Brian Faller, who kept the bird calm while working to remove it.

After the groundskeepers assessed the situation, Addeo partially covered the owl with a blanket, while Faller untangled the claws. They carefully freed each individual leg hoping to avoid any injury to the owl.

Kevin O’Shaughnessy, head of grounds for the South Huntington district, stated, “They didn’t have to go and approach that bird…the video shows how compassionate my guys are and how much they care.”

Once the groundskeepers successfully removed both legs, they released the owl, and it flew off. This act of care and heroism took less than a minute, but gained the admiration and respect of hundreds of thousands.