THE DAILY WIRE · CALIFORNIA, USA · 2026-09-26
Local Fire Department Adds 'Pool Skimmer' to Official Rescue Toolkit
California firefighters this week expanded their rescue toolkit to include, of all things, a pool skimmer, deployed in service of one uncooperative backyard owl.
According to the New York Post, the rescue unfolded in a residential backyard, where the owl needed retrieving and the nearest available equipment happened to be sitting poolside. Officials did not, this reporter notes, requisition specialized raptor-handling gear; they used what was on hand.
There is something almost admirable about the improvisation. Fire departments train for burning buildings and multi-car pileups, not for owls, and yet here we are, filing a report about municipal employees repurposing pool maintenance equipment for wildlife rescue, and it worked.
Reached for comment was Nutsy, a neighborhood squirrel who has watched the owl in question from a nearby oak for what he describes as an uncomfortably long time. His account of the owl's general demeanor differs from the rescue's official framing.
The owl, per the report, was recovered safely. The skimmer's role in future emergency response protocols remains, encouragingly, unconfirmed.
“That owl's been showing off in my pool for weeks, diving for goldfish like he owns the place. Firefighters using a skimmer, honestly a little slow on rescue technique if you ask me — I've pulled acorns out of tighter spots than that, and owls can rotate their heads 270 degrees so he definitely saw it coming.” — Nutsy, neighborhood squirrel
Open this column on the Daily Wire →
Zoos News — Real News. Real Animals. The stories are real; the columnist has eight eyes. Home · Wire archive