Owl stuck in car grille for at least 3 hours on drive to Outer Banks, NC rescuers say
An owl was stuck in a car grille for hours in North Carolina before anyone realized it, rescuers say.
The barred owl was hit by a car over the weekend and was trapped behind its grille for at least three hours until the people got to their destination and realized it was there, according to Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation.
“Never a good sign to see feathers in the grille,” HIWR wrote on Facebook.
The car was traveling from Wilmington to Southern Shores, on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, said Lou Browning, president and founder of HIWR.
The driver hit the owl south of Jacksonville on Highway 17, Browning said.
Southern Shores is about a two-hour drive for Browning, he said, but a friend was able to get there sooner to free the owl and bring it closer.
The owl “seems to be feeling much better,” HIWR wrote on Facebook on Sunday. Browning has checked on the owl’s flight capabilities and said it favors one wing but that nothing is broken.
“Sort of a good luck/ bad luck situation,” HIWR wrote on Facebook.
Browning said this is “fairly common” and that many owls are killed or hurt this time of year.
Owls are out hunting more when it’s cold because they need more calories, he said, and more people are on the road at dusk, when owls are hunting, because of the time change.
He said if an owl is standing on the side of the road it’s “not natural” and it may have “temporary blindness” from impact. It’s important to quickly call rescuers to get the owl.
This story was originally published December 16, 2019 at 7:03 PM with the headline "Owl stuck in car grille for at least 3 hours on drive to Outer Banks, NC rescuers say."
