Great Horned Owl Rescued From Soccer Net at Ross School

It's a good thing Greg Drossel has a background as a naturalist. The Ross School's assistant dean of students, along with maintenance crew members at the Upper School campus in East Hampton, on Thursday rescued a great horned owl that had become tangled in a soccer net.

"It had been out probably most of the night, because they are nocturnal," Mr. Drossel, who ran the Long Island Game Farm for 18 years before joining Ross as a naturalist, said on Thursday. "It was tangled up in the lower part of one of the soccer nets, which would lead me to believe it came down over the field hunting to grab dinner, which would usually be a small rodent, and got tangled up in the net."

The owl was discovered around 8 a.m. that morning as the maintenance crew was mowing the soccer field. Jose Flores said he saw "something jumping in the net." He thought it was a wild turkey, but when he saw it was an owl, he alerted Mr. Drossel.

With help from Tauk Tarrant, another member of the maintenance crew, Mr. Drossel freed the owl from the net. It was hanging by a wing and showing other signs of stress, so they took it to Mr. Drossel's office, placed it in a box, and called the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center in Hampton Bays.

Mr. Drossel, who is in his 20th year at Ross and runs nature programs there in addition to his administrative duties, described the owl as a young male with a wingspan of between two and a half and three feet. "They're very common throughout the U.S. and Canada," he said. "When people think of the wise old owl, they're thinking of a great horned owl."

On Friday morning, Jim Hunter, president of the wildlife rescue center's board of directors, said the owl was doing well.

"He was a little bit under weight. He'll be here for the next few days," Mr. Hunter said. "He will be released where he came from, someplace around the Ross School, as soon as he is at a normal weight."