A male great-horned owl is recuperating at the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center after being rescued out of a Gustine orchard.

The owl had sustained injuries after getting a wing tangled in a kite string.

The owl was in an orchard on S. Hunt Road and was initially called in on Feb. 19 but could not be located among all the almond trees in bloom.

On Feb. 20, Gustine Police Department Community Service Officer Jose Gallardo and City of Gustine Public Works Director Dennis Castro were able to locate the owl and began the careful work of untangling it from the string and out of the tree. All while, trying to avoid the talons and beak.

The pair was successful in freeing the owl. Afterwards the owl was taken to the Stanislaus Wildlife Care Center. The Center reported that the owl was treated for dehydration and on anti-inflammatory medicine.

“He’s hanging out and decompressing,” a representative for the Center said.

The Center said the owl did sustain some injuries to its primary feathers. The treatment will be to either let the bird molt to access the damage or do to a surgery that would involve replacing the damaged feathers from those of a donor bird.

The owl will be at the Center for some time.

Great-horned owls are common for the area and are nesting right now. It is the males job to bring food to the female as she sits on the nest.