Family rescues young loon who couldn’t fly from lake

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. -- Two young girls and their family helped rescue a young loon last week in danger of freezing to the ice on Hubbard County’s Upper Bottle Lake near Park Rapids. Juvenile loons are routinely abandoned by their parents and fly to a southern location with other juveniles weeks after the parents leave. But this one didn’t and there was a reason. The Minnesota state bird had a damaged wing. So to the rescue came Ronia Larson, almost 10, and her 6-year-old sister Dana, along with their father, uncle and grandfather. The girls and their family had been watching the loon, born this past summer, for weeks as the lake froze over near their grandfather’s lake home. Their concern grew as one open spot shrank in the sub-zero temperatures. The Larsons had started masterminding a rescue Nov. 14, when Upper Bottle froze over. Grandfather Steve Larson lives on a point off Upper Bottle Lake, so the kids could see the loon when they visited him and he could keep track of its progress. “I kept a daily watch on him,” Steve Larson said. Then last Friday, the girls’ father, Brett Larson, their uncle Jed, grandpa and the two girls hauled a rubber duck dingy out onto the ice. The father and uncle, wearing life jackets as they expected to fall into the water, pulled the rubber boat up to the hole, about 5 feet in diameter, and tried to grab the bird with large fishing nets. The loon dove underwater. Deep. They waited a few minutes until the loon resurfaced and scooped it up with one of the landing nets. The girls had cut straw to line the bottom of a large dog carrier. When the rescuers got ashore, the bird was gently placed in the carrier and transported to Brett Larson’s home off Boulder Lake in Hubbard County, just one lake away from Upper Bottle. “We put it in the garage, where it was cool,” Brett Larson said. “We tried to give him some water but he wouldn’t drink it,” Ronia reported. They largely left the loon alone, to relieve its stress. However, they put on a nature tape of loons calling. The young loon in the dog cage could hear the calls and would periodically call back, Brett said. The next step With the bird safely rescued from the water, it was time for the family  to turn to the next step in their researched plan. They had selected The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota in Roseville, a nonprofit, donor-supported organization, to help the bird recover.
So two days after the rescue,  the girls’ uncle drove the loon to the center. By then, the family said it seemed to enjoy their company, although they took great pains not to stress it or bother it. According to its website, the center was established in response to the increased need for medical care of injured, ill and orphaned wildlife. With a medical staff of eight, the center is one of the largest and busiest wildlife medical centers in the nation.  Along with the vets, more than 400 volunteers care for, rehabilitate and release the wildlife that they’ve worked with. The volunteer treats more than 8,500 wild animals every year, representing more than 160 different species. The prognosis Tami Vogel, communications director for the center, described the injury to the loon: “It has an old fracture to its right ulna. By old, I simply mean not recent – it’s already healed. This can be problematic if the bones don’t fuse correctly, etc., but that doesn’t seem to be a concern. What is a big concern is the bird’s loss of extension in this wing. “This is most likely due to the fact that the bird hasn’t been using it regularly and normally because of the fracture,” Vogel said. “So, (it’s) kind of like a muscle atrophy,” she added. “And, if the bird can’t extend the wing fully, it cannot fly. What’s grounding the bird now isn’t the fracture, but the result of the fracture.” The center’s vet, Leslie Reed, admitted the loon and is doing intensive therapy on the wing. The loon “is under anesthesia because it’s pretty high stress, and the therapy can be uncomfortable for the bird,” Vogel said. “We won’t know whether the bird will be able to regain full extension, and thereby regain flight, for a few weeks.” The loon did test negative for lead “so at least it’s not battling that as well,” Vogel said. “Holding high stress waterfowl in captivity for treatments like this poses all sorts of issues for the birds,” Vogel added. “One of our biggest concerns is the development of aspergillosis. We proactively treat this to try to prevent it from developing.” Aspergillosis, most often seen in wild and captive birds,  is a fungal disease of the respiratory tract of birds and mammals. Meanwhile, the family believes they did the right thing.  Mother Tanja Larson, who majored in natural resources in college, said the incident was part of nature. Her husband said he had no doubt the bird probably would have frozen to death over the weekend. Tweets by @DLNewspapersPARK RAPIDS, Minn. -- Two young girls and their family helped rescue a young loon last week in danger of freezing to the ice on Hubbard County’s Upper Bottle Lake near Park Rapids.Juvenile loons are routinely abandoned by their parents and fly to a southern location with other juveniles weeks after the parents leave. But this one didn’t and there was a reason.The Minnesota state bird had a damaged wing.So to the rescue came Ronia Larson, almost 10, and her 6-year-old sister Dana, along with their father, uncle and grandfather.The girls and their family had been watching the loon, born this past summer, for weeks as the lake froze over near their grandfather’s lake home. Their concern grew as one open spot shrank in the sub-zero temperatures.The Larsons had started masterminding a rescue Nov. 14, when Upper Bottle froze over. Grandfather Steve Larson lives on a point off Upper Bottle Lake, so the kids could see the loon when they visited him and he could keep track of its progress.“I kept a daily watch on him,” Steve Larson said.Then last Friday, the girls’ father, Brett Larson, their uncle Jed, grandpa and the two girls hauled a rubber duck dingy out onto the ice.The father and uncle, wearing life jackets as they expected to fall into the water, pulled the rubber boat up to the hole, about 5 feet in diameter, and tried to grab the bird with large fishing nets.The loon dove underwater. Deep.They waited a few minutes until the loon resurfaced and scooped it up with one of the landing nets.The girls had cut straw to line the bottom of a large dog carrier. When the rescuers got ashore, the bird was gently placed in the carrier and transported to Brett Larson’s home off Boulder Lake in Hubbard County, just one lake away from Upper Bottle.“We put it in the garage, where it was cool,” Brett Larson said.“We tried to give him some water but he wouldn’t drink it,” Ronia reported.They largely left the loon alone, to relieve its stress. However, they put on a nature tape of loons calling. The young loon in the dog cage could hear the calls and would periodically call back, Brett said.The next stepWith the bird safely rescued from the water, it was time for the family  to turn to the next step in their researched plan. They had selected The Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota in Roseville, a nonprofit, donor-supported organization, to help the bird recover.
So two days after the rescue,  the girls’ uncle drove the loon to the center. By then, the family said it seemed to enjoy their company, although they took great pains not to stress it or bother it.According to its website, the center was established in response to the increased need for medical care of injured, ill and orphaned wildlife. With a medical staff of eight, the center is one of the largest and busiest wildlife medical centers in the nation.  Along with the vets, more than 400 volunteers care for, rehabilitate and release the wildlife that they’ve worked with.The volunteer treats more than 8,500 wild animals every year, representing more than 160 different species.The prognosisTami Vogel, communications director for the center, described the injury to the loon: “It has an old fracture to its right ulna. By old, I simply mean not recent – it’s already healed. This can be problematic if the bones don’t fuse correctly, etc., but that doesn’t seem to be a concern. What is a big concern is the bird’s loss of extension in this wing.“This is most likely due to the fact that the bird hasn’t been using it regularly and normally because of the fracture,” Vogel said.“So, (it’s) kind of like a muscle atrophy,” she added. “And, if the bird can’t extend the wing fully, it cannot fly. What’s grounding the bird now isn’t the fracture, but the result of the fracture.”The center’s vet, Leslie Reed, admitted the loon and is doing intensive therapy on the wing.The loon “is under anesthesia because it’s pretty high stress, and the therapy can be uncomfortable for the bird,” Vogel said.“We won’t know whether the bird will be able to regain full extension, and thereby regain flight, for a few weeks.”The loon did test negative for lead “so at least it’s not battling that as well,” Vogel said.“Holding high stress waterfowl in captivity for treatments like this poses all sorts of issues for the birds,” Vogel added. “One of our biggest concerns is the development of aspergillosis. We proactively treat this to try to prevent it from developing.”Aspergillosis, most often seen in wild and captive birds,  is a fungal disease of the respiratory tract of birds and mammals.Meanwhile, the family believes they did the right thing.  Mother Tanja Larson, who majored in natural resources in college, said the incident was part of nature.Her husband said he had no doubt the bird probably would have frozen to death over the weekend.Tweets by @DLNewspapers