True creatures of the night
Humane Indiana Wildlife expands the Valparaiso’s Festival of Owls
What started with 25 attendees at Humane Indiana Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Valparaiso has grown to 450 attendees in 2019 when the event moved to Porter County Fairgrounds.
Humane Indiana Wildlife’s sixth annual Festival of Owls on Oct. 23 marks an in-person return after presenting the fest virtually in 2020 due to COVID19 concerns.
“This year we’ve expanded. In 2019 we used the 4-H Building only. This year we expanded to take the 4-H Building and the Expo East building so that we can spread the vendors out,” said Brian Fitzpatrick, chief executive officer of Humane Indiana.
“We’re doing only one group presentation at a time vs. multiple so we’re able to space the chairs apart. We will take every precaution.”
Festival of Owls features all eight species of owls native to Indiana.
“It’s an opportunity to be able to see these incredible animals up close and personal and to hear their stories. Every one of these ambassador animals are injured. They’re almost like special needs animals. They can’t be released but they have incredible stories to tell,” said Fitzpatrick, of Kouts.
Ambassador owls include barred owls Dougal and his sister that are first-year hatchlings, first-year barn owl Little Pippen, a snowy owl named Owlfred, an eastern screech owl named Arleen and Tonks, a great horned owl that came to Humane Indiana in 2017 as a baby that fell out of a tree in Munster.
“We sit on a great migratory path of North America,” Fitzpatrick said. “People don’t realize the animals that come through here so to really understand the mission of what we do and to learn, get involved whether you can use us for an education program or volunteer at the wildlife center. There’s a lot of ways to help.”
The featured speaker at Festival of Owls is Nicole Harmon, wildlife center director for Humane Indiana, whose a live owl presentation includes stories about the animal, how owls came into the nonprofit organization’s care and owls’ importance to the environment.
“Nicole has been with the organization for approximately six years. She has really grown the education programs from just a couple hundred people a year to over 16,000 people pre-COVID,” Fitzpatrick said.
“That’s what makes our intake continue to grow because of Nicole’s presence in the community where she’s at schools, she’s at garden clubs, she’s at libraries and she’s at assisted living facilities bringing the animals to the folks that can’t get out anymore.
“It’s great now when we get a phone call from a concerned mom because she’s got some bunnies or squirrels in her backyard or on the ground and her child said, ‘Miss Nicole said to call before we go to the wildlife center’ or ‘Miss Nicole said to leave them alone.’ ”
Other Festival of Owls presentations include Predator-Prey Relationships for Owls in the Northwest Indiana Area by Marie Laudeman, interpretive naturalist at Indiana Dunes State Park in Chesterton.
Saw-whet Owl Banding at Meadowbrook Nature Preserve by Sarah Barnes, communications and land manager of Shirley Heinze Land Trust, and Northwoods Owls/Hoosiers’ Experience with Owls by Brad Bumgardner, executive director of Indiana Audubon Society, also are slated as guest presentations.
“We’re going to have approximately 30 vendors for crafts and for like-minded environmental groups such as Izaak Walton League,” Fitzpatrick said.
“It’s family-friendly. It’s not just for kids but there’ll be activities for the kids to do. The kids dissecting owl pellets is pretty cool. The pellets are all sanitized. The kids sit down and they find a mouth, a skull, a leg bone or a foot.
“Then we help the kids take that back to the drawing of what is in the environment that these owls would be eating. The kids love that activity and that goes on all day.”
Fitzpatrick said the majority of the wildlife that comes to Humane Indiana is from Porter County.
“We’re celebrating our 80th year with our gala in November. We are the only organization in the Region that handles not only dogs and cats but the wildlife as well,” he said.
“There’s great opportunities for people to be a part of this organization and there’s a great opportunity for people to learn more about the wildlife that’s in the area or learn more about how they can help.”