He's pugnacious and he doesn't back down – and that may be part of why a snowy owl found injured and emaciated nearly three months ago has made a great recovery.

"He's come a long way," said Marianne Hites, the wildlife rehabilitator with Messinger Woods Wildlife Care and Education Center who nursed him back to health at her house.

Hites expects to get the OK this week to release the bird, so he can return to the arctic tundra.

Snowy, as she calls him, had survived for more than a week with a broken wing before he was found on a rural road in Cattaraugus County. Emaciated and sick, he may not have lived much longer, had not a farmer flagged down two state Department of Conservation officers who happened to be driving through the Town of Napoli the week before Christmas.

The bird’s major and minor metacarpals – bones in the wing – were broken, and the bone had become infected. Blood tests revealed the owl was severely compromised, with severe dehydration and kidney failure, and he needed to be stabilized for several days before surgery to insert pins into his right wing.