Dazed Owl Carried Into Car By Driver; Then This Happened (Photos)

TUCSON, AZ — When a driver near Tucson hit an owl with her car, she decided to be a good Samaritan and help the animal. She turned around, scooped the animal in arms and brought it back to her car. Then the owl awoke. Suddenly, it latched onto her sleeve — and the wheel of her car. A standoff ensued.

The woman struck the great horned owl Monday night while driving on Oracle Road, the state Game and Fish Department said. The bird appeared "dazed."

Mark Hart, a spokesman for the department, tells Patch the bird was lying motionless on the road.

"The bird was down or out," Hart says. "It was unconscious or dazed. And so she stopped, scooped it up thinking she could get it to a wildlife rehab or whatever and it revived inside the vehicle, immediately latching onto her steering wheel and her right sleeve."

Hart says his agency got the initial call from the driver's mother.

"She called her mom and said 'I don't know what to do!'" Hart says.

Dispatchers and a wildlife officer worked with the driver to devise strategies to free her from the bird's clutch.

"It just clamped on and they have very large and powerful talons, so once an owl has you in its grasp, it's hard to shake it off," Hart says.

Initially, wildlife experts told her to turn the wheel to the right, thinking they'd get the owl parallel to the ground so it would release its grip. The challenge was to remove the bird gently so as not to risk it hurting the woman.

But the animal didn't budge.

They also told the woman to douse the owl with water. But Hart says initially, that didn't work either — the owl simply drank the water. It wasn't until the woman doused the owl "more aggressively" did it finally release her.

"Ultimately the owl just released her and hopped out," he says.

The late-night ordeal lasted about 20 minutes, according to phone records. The woman wasn't injured.

Video posted on the agency's Facebook page shows her releasing the animal.

"We can't really from the video assess the extent of injuries," Hart says. It might have just been a car strike that left the animal "dazed and confused," he added.

The owl was seen again Tuesday near the same area. It appeared to be in good health, the Arizona Republic reported.

State officials are now warning other would-be good Samaritans to think twice before trying to help injured wildlife.

"It's human nature to want to render aid to the injured, but if you do that with wildlife, you risk getting hurt yourself," Hart says.

The driver realizes that now, he adds.

It's not uncommon for humans to try to help wildlife. But they shouldn't.

Hart says the most extreme case he can remember was about five years ago when a driver tried to scoop up a coyote that had been hit by a car in northwest Tucson. The animal bit the driver, who wound up in the emergency room.

People have also been known to scoop up baby deer or javelina — a medium-sized hoofed mammal that looks like a large rodent — because they don't see the animal's mother around. But mom is "assuredly" nearby, Hart says. Probably foraging.

"So now you've separated the baby from its mother and its going to have to live its whole life in captivity," he says. That's because by the time the baby is brought back to the spot where it was picked up, the mother may be gone.

Next time, the department hopes people will just call them.

"Get help by calling us at 623-236-7201," the agency says.

Don't risk getting hurt aiding injured wildlife. This owl, dazed when a motorist got it off Oracle Road last night, revived inside her car. It then latched onto her sleeve and steering wheel for some time. Unhurt, she finally coaxed it out. Get help by calling us at 623-236-7201 pic.twitter.com/aRYdamhZVC
— AZ Game & Fish Dept (@azgfdTucson) May 8, 2018

Lead photo credit: RHJ/Shutterstock

Other photos via Arizona Game and Fish, used with permission.