Southwest Florida conservancy group saves a great horned owl after it was hit by a truck
A great horned owl had plenty to hoot about after it was hit by a pick-up truck and got itself wedged into the front grille for what the driver called a 300-mile journey.
The owl is lucky to hoot at all, in fact.
According to the Conservancy Center of Southwest Florida in Naples, one of its rescuers responded to a call about a week ago concerning an injured owl. As the owl was flying across a road, a driver hit the bird but didn’t realize until the end of his 300-mile trip that the horned owl had broken through the front grille and was still in the truck.
The driver called a local wildlife hospital in Naples and one of the Conservancy’s volunteers, Tim Thompson, helped extract the great horned owl.
“The owl was dull and had some swelling and laceration on one elbow, due to the impact of the truck,” the Conservancy said in a post Tuesday, April 27, on Facebook.
At the rehab center, the owl was given fluids, pain meds, laser therapy in addition to space in a cage for its recovery. After about a week, the owl was moved to an outside enclosure and the staff remains optimistic about his recovery, the Conservancy said.
The Conservancy is temporarily closed but its volunteers are on hand to help with injured animals.
“Happens way too much,” someone posted on the Facebook thread.
Indeed, animals winding up in or attached to cars is not an uncommon happenstance in Florida.
Last week, a woman was driving on Interstate 95 near Port Orange, Florida, when a turtle flew through the air and smashed through her car’s windshield. The turtle hit her 71-year-old mother, who was in the passenger seat, in the forehead causing a gash. The turtle survived the crash and the Mom was treated on the scene. Rescuers figured the turtle must have been nicked by another car on the road and sent into the air.
The great horned owl, of course, flew on its own but didn’t time its flight right so as to avoid the pick-up truck. The Conservancy did not say on what road the accident occurred.
This story was originally published April 27, 2021 at 5:49 PM.
