Hoot, hoot, hooray: Owl freed from vehicle’s grille

SOUTHERN SHORES, N.C. (AP) — An owl that got trapped in the grille of a vehicle has lived to fly another day.

A barred owl took an unexpected three-hour ride to the Outer Banks of North Carolina over the weekend, said Lou Browning, the founder and president of Hatteras Island Wildlife Rehabilitation.

A family from Wilmington heard something hit their car on the drive to Southern Shores but kept going when nothing appeared out of the ordinary, Browning told news outlets. The owl was found after the family got to their destination, according to a Facebook post from the wildlife group.

Other news
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he is committed to paying out compensation swiftly to thousands of people affected by the country’s infected blood scandal, which saw more than 2,000 patients die after contracting HIV or hepatitis from transfusions of tainted blood in the 1970s and 1980s.
New Jersey is pushing an ambitious agenda to move its 9 million residents away from natural gas and gasoline to heat their homes and power their cars, in favor of electricity to do the job of both.
Canadá le dio la vuelta al marcador tras encajar un gol olímpico y vence 2-1 Irlanda para quedar como líder del Grupo B de la Copa Mundial femenina.
You’ve got to hand it to the Philippou brothers. They’ve taken the old horror cliche of a severed hand and made something worth, well, applauding, says Associated Press critic Mark Kennedy.

“Nothing’s broken,” Browning said of the freed owl’s condition. “Just bruising.”

Barred owls are one of three owl species seen regularly in eastern North Carolina.

Owls getting hit by vehicles isn’t uncommon. Browning says he receives about 70 to 100 raptors a year from car strikes. He says they are often out hunting this time of year because they need more calories when it’s cold.