gigi, a great horned owl, was completely aloneuntil she met the one man she'd never forget. gigi first arrived at mississippi's wild atheart rescue toward the end of may after suffering significant head trauma, which the rescuesuspects was the result of being hit by a car. she had a massive concussion, her bodywas riddled with parasites and she had a condition called aspergillosis, which is similar topneumonia in humans, missy dubuisson, founder and director of wild at heart, told the dodo.gigi was so ill that, during the course of her treatment, she lost an entire pound ofweight — which was a lot, considering great horned owls typically weigh anywhere from2 to 5 pounds. "this bird was one of the most critical wehave ever taken care of," dubuisson said.
"the fact that this bird has lived is beyondcomprehension." but if there was anyone at the rescue who could help gigi get back ingood health, it would be douglas "doug" pojeky, president of the rescue and affectionatelyknown as the "birds of prey whisperer." "in all my years of working with birds ofprey, i have never seen someone with such a bond with these magnificent birds," dubuissonsaid. under pojeky's care, gigi went from knocking at "death's door to perching," dubuissonsaid. she also went from being hand-fed to grabbing food on her own. gigi had undoubtedlycome to trust and care for pojeky, and she made it known just how much in the most surprisingway. pojeky had been a trip to michigan, visitingfamily, leaving gigi without his company for
awhile. after pojeky returned, he gave gigian examination and she immediately started bobbing her head and dancing on his arm. then,she slowly walked up to his chest, rested her head on his shoulder and draped her wingsaround him in a fully fledged owl hug. the look of pure content on her face justbefore she embraced pojeky showed just how happy she was to be reunited with her favoritehuman. pojeky told the dodo that being hugged bygigi held a particularly special importance to him. growing up, a great horned owl usedto perch on the top of pojeky's family barn. while pojeky's father often saw the owl, pojekyand the rest of his family rarely did. however, on the morning of his father's death, theowl was spotted overlooking the farm house,
where pojeky's father had passed away, beforeflying off into the woods. "for some reason when that bird was huggingme, all i could think of was my dad," pojeky said. once gigi makes a full recovery, she'll bereleased back into the wild. but in the meantime, she has pojeky to lean on. "it literally bringstears to my eyes to watch him interact with these birds," dubuisson said. "they absolutelyknow him and trust him. it's the trust that you see in her face."