Author injured in riding accident

KALISPELL – Zoologist and author Mark Owens of Moyie Springs, Idaho, is recovering at a hospital here after being thrown from a horse near Libby and suffering spinal injuries, a collapsed lung and rib fractures.

The accident happened Aug. 1 four miles from the head of Cedar Lakes Trail. Rescuers stabilized Owens, 62, and moved him about 1.5 miles to a meadow.

He remained there until a helicopter arrived at 8 a.m. the next day and flew him to Kalispell Regional Medical Center.

Owens and his wife, Delia, have written several books based on 23 years of endangered-species work in Africa.