Samantha the owl dies after 32 years at the U of M Raptor Center
A popular great horned owl died last month, after three decades of representing The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota.
Samantha was an ambassador bird who ventured into the community with human handlers to educate the public about the species.
“It’s such an incredible loss of the amazing bird and educator,” said Dr. Victoria Hall, executive director of the Raptor Center. “At the same time, and when you think about her, and the legacy that she left and the number of people she impacted, it’s pretty amazing as well.”
The obituary announcement on the center’s various social media accounts said simply, “The number of programs she participated in and the people she reached are incalculable. Her impact on visitors, volunteers and staff alike was vast and deep.”
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The post also prompted comments by people who met Samantha at schools and summer camps.
“I remember when she came to my school in kindergarten!” wrote one follower on Instagram, with an owl emoji. “It was so cool to see an owl so close up, and she definitely helped spark my joy of birds. Fly high, Samantha.”
Fans also appreciated Samantha in her videos involving lots of movement.
“One thing Samantha loved were baths, whether it was a bath pan, or whether we brought in a misting hose,” Hall said.
On hot Minnesota days, “Samantha would just sit in front of it, and get soaked and everybody would really enjoy watching just how much fun she was having."
She’d fluff her feathers and extend her wings.
“She would look a little bit funny, not that she cared at all,” Hall added.
Mostly, though, the great horned owl had presence.
“Samantha just had an incredible amount of dignity and poise to her. She would certainly make some subtle hoots at you if she agreed or disagreed with things,” Hall said. “She held herself in her 30-plus years as one of the most seasoned birds that we had.”
When Samantha arrived at the center in 1992, she had multiple injuries, including a broken wing. The staff believed she had been hit by a car.
They were unable to estimate her age because she was already an adult. Hall said it’s nearly impossible to determine the age of a great horned owl after its first year of life. But she added it’s safe to say she was older than 32 years old when she died.
Samantha was nursed back to health, but she couldn’t fly due to the wing injury. The center set up a home for her because they believed her survival chances in the wild would be low if she was released.
The center staff use positive reinforcement training to engage the birds to be ambassadors.
“There is an incredible relationship between our education birds, and then their education humans that work with them,” Hall said. “We never forced one of our education birds to do anything. We asked them to.”
That’s where the positive reinforcement comes in.
Samantha became an ambassador bird one year after she arrived, Hall said.
In recent years, she said Samantha suffered from a number of age-related conditions that were treated. But her pain got worse and the choice was made to euthanize her.
Samantha lived about 10 years longer than the average lifespan of her counterparts in the wild.
