Recently, the team at Wild Friends released a baby barn owl — a feathered fury affectionately dubbed as our “feistiest patient of the year.”

Staff wore an owl mask to keep him from getting too attached to humans, but it did not stop him from screaming his banshee-like scream or from trying to attack every time he saw a human! That’s OK, though, because in wildlife rehabilitation, the feistier the patients, the better.

Photo credit: National animal welfare organization working to end the killing in America’s shelters. Together, we will Save Them All. www.bestfriends.org