Snickers lives at Liberty Wildlife, and when baby season arrives, her mother instincts kick in. Because there is no mate to fertilize the eggs, they will not hatch into kids, but Snickers meticulously cares to her eggs just in case.
When two orphaned owl sprats came at Liberty Wildlife, their saviors knew they demanded an educated and compassionate mama to watch for them. Of course, the decision was simple. Snickers would become their new mother.
Snickers’ caretakers took the infertile eggs and replaced them with the two kids when she was away from her nest. Snickers was then restored to her nest, adjacent to the kids, and they waited.
Snickers’ maternal instincts took over almost immediately. She began conversing with the babies, perhaps to reassure them that they were safe and that she would look after them from now on. Then she did the most endearing thing.
Snickers climbed into the nest and extended her wings over her new babies, shielding them as best she could. She returned her rescuers’ gaze, as if to say, “These are my babies. I’ll continue from here.”
Unsurprisingly, the baby owls have flourished in Snickers’ care. She did such a good job raising kids that she was given a third. She’s teaching them how to be owls so that when they’re released back into the wild, they may have amazing lives on their own.
