Rehabilitating owls is hard, dirty, expensive, heartbreaking and time-consuming work that is equally amazing and awe-inspiring - offering moments of joy, said Gwen Rice, who co-founded Freedom First Wildlife Rehab, Inc., with her husband, Richard.

“I am grateful and blessed to be able to do this important work,” Gwen said in an email, referring to their home-based, nonprofit Waterford organization founded in 2017, which initially rescued a variety of small animals.

For the last year-and-a-half, they became “owl exclusive” after attaining their federal permit – their goal from the beginning. “We take in sick and injured orphaned owls and release them back into the wild,” she said.

“It makes me feel good to take an injured owl, help it heal and then watch it return to the wild as a healthy animal,” stated Richard in an email, adding he has always cared about wildlife.

“Sometimes, owls have injuries that make them nonreleasable. If we determine they can live comfortably as an Educational Ambassador, we apply for a federal permit to keep them for outreach programs.”

Each year, the Rices choose a conservation project. “Our 2022-23 conservation project is focused on supporting the state-endangered barn owl (which weighs about one pound). Connecticut underwent a reforestation period to grow forested lands but also lost many areas of cleared fields and farmland, the habitat required for successful barn owl populations to breed and hunt,” Gwen said.

The initial project included placing six nesting boxes in eastern Connecticut on approved land sites that supported barn owl habitat. After doing Google map land surveys, reaching out to landowners and a story being published in The Day, she said they received a massive response and ended up committing to a total of 16 boxes in Norwich, East Lyme, Quaker Hill, North Stonington, Mystic, Old Lyme, Lisbon, Preston, Canterbury, Hampton, Waterford and Montville.

To be considered, land owners had to have 35 acres or more of cleared land and had to agree to not use rodenticide, a rat poison, which Gwen said is a big problem for owls. “The owls consume the (poisoned) mice and they die.”

To help protect wildlife, Gwen said they’re working on getting rodenticide banned in Connecticut, like Massachusetts just did.

“An incredibly sustainable method to keeping rodents away from your property,” she said, involve “keeping barns clean, food supplies well sealed and attracting natural predators like owls.”

“Barn owls require open areas because they fly along a field or meadow to hunt. Barred owls and screech owls prefer wooded areas and will use manmade cavity nests and hunt by perching in a tree to watch for prey. Great horned owls prefer wooded areas with plenty of underbrush for prey and hunt by swooping down from a favorite perch to grab a meal,” Gwen said, adding that avoiding rodenticide is paramount in caring for local owls.

To attract a variety of owls to your property, install wood duck boxes that are 12 by 12 inches in diameter, between 18 and 24 inches high and have 4-inch holes, said Dennis Main, president of Avalonia Land Conservancy, Inc.

One of the properties chosen for a barn owl nesting box by Freedom First Wildlife Rehab, Inc. is Cedar Wood Preserve, a 47-acre property on North Wawecus Hill Road in Norwich, purchased by Avalonia in June 2021. Main agreed it was exciting to be chosen as one of the locations for the barn owl boxes.

“It’s pretty neat to be able to have that installed up there,” he said during a September telephone interview.

When Cedar Wood Preserve opens to the public in several months, Main said it will provide a parking area, elevated walkway through a vernal pool to get into the main preserve and three miles of walking trails, opportunities for bird watching and walking on-leash dogs.

“It’s a great birding habitat. I think we’ve already got 75 species identified there. It’s an e-bird hotspot.”

Main explained those who have iPhones can utilize a “Merlin” application (created by Cornell Lab of Ornithology) and run its sound feature to identify bird sounds they hear.

“The response and support for this (barn owl nesting box) project has been remarkable,” Gwen Rice said.

In September, they were organizing installation teams with volunteers from the Groton Naval Base, a local Scout troop, landscape company, the Norwich Fire Department, local carpenters and multiple members of the community, including Norwich Mayor Peter Albert Nystrom.

Freedom First Wildlife Rehab’s project was made possible by a grant from the Connecticut Ornithological Association and donations from Norwich Lumber, Ace Hardware, Surplus Unlimited, Lowes and anonymous donors. John Savage built the 16 nesting boxes and Scout Troop 80 and Pack 80, along with other volunteers with Norwich Bully Busters, stained them. Terry Shaw fabricated the predator-proof baffles.

Gwen said they are grateful for all the support from Project Manager Debbie Kievits, who is also director of Norwich Bully Busters. In addition to developing their Facebook page: Friends of Freedom for Wildlife, she said Kievits also helped raise money to help take care of the animals.

With an eye on retirement after 34 years helping to rehabilitate people as an occupational therapist at Backus Hospital, Gwen said she wanted to start the organization, so she could rehabilitate owls full time in the future.

“Freedom First is focused on owls, an animal that many people know nothing about and that makes this work special,” said Richard, a retired maintenance worker.

For more information or to request a presentation, go to Facebook, call 860-514-9591, or email FreedomFirstWildlifeRehab@yahoo.com.

Jan Tormay, a longtime Norwich resident, now lives in Westerly.