THE OWL THAT BROUGHT A CHILD BACK TO LIFE

ALEX GOODWIN has been through far too much for an 11-year-old. After having a rare form of bone cancer diagnosed when he was eight, he has had to undergo radical surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy to survive. But Alex has a secret helper: Murray the owl.

Every few months his devoted father, Jeff, drives him 100 miles from their home where he gets to fly the bird.

It has helped give Alex (above) his childhood back.

‘Alex closed down when he was dealing with his illness,’ says Jeff. ‘He went through very invasive treatment that left him traumatised and he was having nightmares.’

Murray’s owner, Anita Morris, heard about Alex via Twitter two-and-a-half years ago and went to visit him.

‘She gave him a reason to survive,’ says Jeff. ‘Being able to connect with Murray gave him a focus and helped him grow in confidence.’

Now Alex, who is out of his wheelchair, is training to become a falconer.

It’s all thanks to Anita, a psychologist who set up her therapy business, Hack Back CIC, in 2005 when she recognised the power that birds of prey had to help heal humans.

She got Murray (right), a burrowing owl, in 2013, then a barn owl, an African spotted eagle owl and a tiny white-faced owl. Anita visits groups, individuals and schools.

‘One of my first experiences was of eight women in the criminal justice system,’ she says.

‘They had got into petty crime because their self-esteem was so low. By the end they were flying the owls. It had a massive impact because we’d say, “You’ve achieved this. What else can you do?”.

‘A lot of my work now is with children with autism. [The birds] help them understand the subtleties of body language.

‘Birds don’t judge. An owl will fly to someone with a severe disability, which gives that person a sense of equality.’