It started in a concrete mixer, and ended with a quiet flight back to the wild.

Staff at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah, recently treated an adolescent great horned owl after construction workers found him inside a truck-mounted concrete mixer at a resort construction site in late October, according to The Associated Press.

The workers rinsed the owl off and wrapped him in a towel before sanctuary staff took over.

Staff then spent days removing hardened concrete from the owl’s face, chest and right wing with forceps, toothbrushes and dish soap.

The biggest problem came after the concrete was gone. Great horned owls rely on specialized feather edges that help them fly almost silently while hunting, but the concrete had badly frayed the bird’s feathers and created a loud whooshing sound in flight.

Staff first hoped the owl would molt and replace the damaged feathers on his own. When that did not happen on schedule, they used a falconry technique called imping, which attaches donor feathers to damaged feather shafts.

“The first few feathers were extremely nerve-wracking, but as we got into the groove, the imping became more comfortable, and everything went smoothly,” said Bart Richwalski, a supervisor at the sanctuary, per the AP.

Staff tracked the owl’s feather growth for weeks before anesthetizing him for the procedure. Using feathers donated from a deceased owl of similar size, they matched, trimmed and attached replacements to rebuild the bird’s right wing.

The 90-minute operation replaced 10 primary feathers and one secondary feather.

After recovering in a large aviary, the owl flew again. Richwalski used a decibel meter to check that the wing noise had dropped to a safe level.

“It feels so, so good. I think my heart finally started beating again,” Richwalski said, per the AP. “The nervousness was starting to overtake the excitement, but once I saw him fly out that opening in the roof … it was a sight to see. It was so fun.”

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