An owl found on the ground on High Street in North Andover was released back into the wild on Monday, Aug. 31, after six days of treatment for suspected rodenticide poisoning and a leg injury.

North Andover Animal Control said officers found the bird in distress and brought it to Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, a Chelmsford-based nonprofit that specializes in injured and orphaned wildlife. The owl could barely stand when she arrived, Patch reported, citing a social media update from the rescue center.

Animal Control credited the responding officers' quick action and Newhouse's care for the owl's recovery, saying the bird had been medically cleared after six days of treatment to return to North Andover.

Newhouse Wildlife Rescue, founded in 2018 by Jane Newhouse, runs an active advocacy campaign to ban second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides, or SGARs. The chemicals prevent blood clotting and take two to 10 days to kill a rodent. As the poisoned animal weakens, it becomes easy prey for owls, hawks, eagles, coyotes and foxes. The poison then builds up in those predators' bodies.

Several North Shore and Merrimack Valley communities have banned rodenticides on municipal property, according to Patch. Statewide, at least 48 Massachusetts communities had enacted such bans as of April, and 20 municipalities had filed home rule petitions seeking to extend restrictions to private property, according to Boston.com. The Massachusetts Senate unanimously adopted an amendment to its environmental bond bill that would let cities and towns restrict rodenticides without separate legislative approval.

"The scope of the problem is so broad," Mass Audubon community organizer Heather Packard told Boston.com in April. "It isn't just the bald eagles that are being harmed."

That same month, a bald eagle known as FAE died in Arlington from SGAR poisoning. A postmortem at the Tufts Wildlife Clinic found three second-generation rodenticides in the eagle's liver. Neighboring Rhode Island's General Assembly cleared its own rat poison ban in June, Rhode Island Current reported.

Residents who find injured wildlife in North Andover can contact Animal Control or reach Newhouse Wildlife Rescue at (978) 413-4085.