At-risk baby owls rescued from popular Salt River Tubing area

MARICOPA COUNTY, Ariz. - This is a story about a rescue just in the nick of time after an owl laid eight eggs right at the busiest spot of the Salt River.

One of the best parts of the Salt River is how we interact with wildlife, and in this case, the eggs needed to be saved before the crowds rushed in

With wild horses crossing the river, and birds flying overhead, the Salt River is full of wildlife, but sometimes those interactions can be too close for comfort.

The baby barn owls are now in a new home at Wild at Heart, a bird rescue. It wasn’t long ago that a mud cliff was their home along the Salt River.

Just a day before Salt River Tubing was set to begin, someone noticed a problem.

"It just wasn’t really safe for the owls to be in that spot at that time, unfortunately," said Bob Fox with Wild at Heart.

A barn owl nested at a popular spot where people climb the rope and jump off into the river. As you can imagine, it wasn’t safe for the eggs.

"It's an area populated by a lot of people jumping off the ridge, so the owls were probably at risk," Fox says.

A Wild at Heart volunteer collected six eggs and 2-day-old owls. They're now cared for by volunteers, feeding them food quietly, so they don’t get used to human voices.

The owls hatch at different times, so some are older and some haven’t hatched yet.

It’s never ideal to move birds from the wild, but they felt they had no other option this time.

"Unfortunately a lot of people see wildlife, and they want to get near it and interact with it. It’s never a good thing for the wildlife or the people themselves," Fox cautioned.

Believe it or not, these owls will grow fast.

These baby owls will be ready to be released into the wild in the fall.