Owl Makes 140-Mile Trip Stuck in SUV Grille

A great horned owl managed to avoid becoming roadkill in a swift maneuver that then got it stuck on a 140-mile overnight road trip.

The owl was under veterinary care and expected to make a full recovery, the Sun Sentinel reported.

Sonji Coney-Williams was driving her Ford SUV along Florida’s Turnpike Thursday, Feb. 7, when she saw the bird in the dark in the middle of the road near Yeehaw Junction.  “It didn’t move. It just stood there and I couldn’t stop,” she told the Sun Sentinel.

That night she checked into a hotel and the next morning as she was driving off a couple pointed to the grille on her SUV.  “I lost it,” she said. “I told them I didn’t want to see it. I knew exactly what happened.”

But the bird was alive and Coney-Williams called the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “FWC Officer Lex Corteguera removed the SUV’s grille and transported the feathered patient to the non-profit center. The center’s director, Sherry Schlueter, said the owl arrived dehydrated but responsive,” the Sun Sentinel reported.

Read more at Discovery News