By Sarah Kinzbach Williams
Interested in getting involved? For more information, visit www.theurbaninterface.com.
About the Ambassadors Dante Dante is a 3-year-old male barn owl. As a baby, Dante fell out of his nest and broke his wing. He was found by a farmer and released to a rehabilitation facility. Unfortunately, an infection set in the broken wing and had to be surgically amputated. Batson describes Dante as a solitary bird who enjoys sitting on the glove during a presentation and listening to everything around him. His habitat contains wide ramps and stable perches to assist with his lack of balance due to the amputation. In the wild, barn owls often inhabit abandoned buildings or old barns. They also do not hoot like most owl species; rather, they call with an alarming shrill screech. With their preferred habitat and haunting call, barn owls are thought to be the source of ghost stories and eidolic tales.
Freyja Freyja is an adult female red-tail hawk, a common, native raptor indigenous to the continental United States. Freyja joined The Urban Interface in May 2014 after sustaining a severe wing injury. To stabilize the wing, two metal pins were implanted and although she has fully recovered, she will never fly well enough to hunt. Freyja is an intelligent bird and Executive Director Corey Batson says she quickly transitioned into her life as an educational ambassador.
Tybalt Tybalt is a retired racing pigeon bred in captivity. During a race, Tybalt suffered an eye injury likely sustained from a predatory attack and was released to TUI. His eye is now fully healed and Tybalt is enjoying life full of attention as an educational ambassador. While not as formidable as Freyja and Dante, Tybalt’s curious expressions and lovable, attention-seeking personality make him an approachable favorite as a TUI ambassador.