Owl Crashes Into Pickup Truck Grill, Survives
ADDISON COUNTY, Vt. (CBS) - An owl survived a frightening head-on crash with a pickup truck in Vermont.
It happened back on December 11 just before 5 a.m.
The driver said the owl swooped down to the road, apparently trying to catch something, but ended up colliding with the pickup.
The man pulled the truck over and found the owl lodged in his grill, flapping its wings and splaying its talons.
Not wanting to get hurt, he drove slowly eight miles to work and then called biologist David Sausville of the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department.
"The driver did the right thing by not attempting to help the owl by himself," Sausville said in a statement announcing the incident Wednesday. "Owls can do serious damage with their talons if they get a hold of you; they don't want to let go."
Sausville used a pair of thick welding gloves and held the owl by the talons while the driver worked to remove its head from the grill.
Sausville then placed the owl in a plastic pet carrier while it recovered.
The owl was released back into the wild a few hours later where it flew off, apparently uninjured.
