VICKSBURG, MI --

Since Wednesday, when she was called to a Kalamazoo field

, Sharron Butler, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, has tube-fed the bird several times, and she expects to continue the 3-4 daily feedings over the next week until the it regains enough strength to eat mice and normal owl fare, she said.

The snowy owl was near death when it was recovered, infested with blood-sucking lice and critically emaciated.

Snowy owls typically fly to their destination without eating along the way, she said, and this bird was one of several spotted along Lake Michigan Dec. 1, far south of its typical habitat north of Lake Superior.

Scarce food supplies in the Arctic Circle are driving the birds farther south this year, scientists believe, and young animals such as this one may not have the strength to survive the extended journey with no food.