From exgenus
A great horned owl who was trapped in a plastic bag along a busy freeway flew free Tuesday afternoon with the help of police and wildlife rehabilitators.
Multiple commuters on Interstate 84 in Nampa, Idaho called the Idaho State Police after spotting the distressed owl on the median. While great horned owls are common in the state, it's rare to see the nocturnal bird during the day, especially near rush hour traffic.
When Idaho State Police officer Sgt. Brandalyn Crapo responded to the call, she found the owl with his talons trapped in plastic.
To protect the stuck owl, Crapo parked her patrol car on the shoulder between the owl and oncoming traffic as she waited for a volunteer with Animals in Distress Association, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation nonprofit, to arrive.
Within minutes, James McKinley, a wildlife rehabilitator, arrived to save the bird, according to the Idaho Statesman. McKinley told the newspaper nocturnal raptors often hunt empty roadways at night and likely thought the plastic bag was prey.
"The animal used its foot and clenched it, and that's how it got hung up," he said. "I'm speculating he thought the movement of the bag was a prey at night."
Luckily, McKinley was able to free the owl from the plastic bag as traffic rushed by. The best part: The owl didn't appear to be injured! The bird was set free away from the busy road-after posing with Crapo for a few photos, of course.
Kudos to Crapo, McKinley and all the concerned drivers who helped save the creature!
There's always a few people that can't appreciate it when there's police involved in the post. I figured they could at least enjoy that her name is Crapo.
I really weigh out what stuff I share if I think there's anything touchy about it. Last night I got a story about a huge global company that called one of our fav rescues to remove a Barn Owl from their factory, but they ended up killing the owl before they were available to come out. On one hand, I thought this story was worth sharing, because it's a company I can say you all know and have very likely bought stuff from a lot. But on the other, the original thread was all full of "I'll never buy from Brand x again!" which is fine, but at the same time, I don't think Brand y would have done things any differently.
The majority of us here already seem to think megacorp = greedy and puts profit before environment. I don't need to bring that stuff here. I know a good chunk of you are all ACAB, which I understand. But this isn't a story about police vs people, it's one of them doing at least one good thing for selfless reasons that makes a positive difference in the community they are supposed to serve. You don't have to like her, just enjoy some rando saving an owl. If Stephen Miller was in the news for saving an owl, I'd still think he was the most vile person alive, I'd just be all like, "well why can't you do good more often?" and be happy for the owl.
Plus the faces this owl makes are just too peak to not share! This is possibly the angriest owl I've ever seen. You show me these pics and I'm all "there was a person in these pics???" How could you be focusing on anything but that scowl?!
Exactamundo. Well spoke.