Annabell Whelan woke up on Tuesday and quickly went to check on her overnight guest: a white owl that he rescued from a car radiator the day before.
Whelan was with her boyfriend’s family Monday in Duluth, Minnesotawhen He saw the snowy owl, a female he named Nowl, “just hanging there, literally” after the car and the bird collided.he told The Associated Press. The car owner called for help, but the animal rescue organization was closed, so Whelan stepped in to help an owl, for the second time that day.
That same Monday, Whelan found another owl, this time a large, gray one, injured on the ground further north.in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Experts at Wildwoods, a Duluth-based wildlife rehabilitation center, told him how to safely capture the bird.
“I definitely thought I’d had enough with owls with the first one,” said Whelan, 22, visitor experience manager at the Lake Superior Zoo, who graduated earlier this year with a degree in biology and science. environmental.
“I could tell he had problems with one of his eyes,” she said. “I took my time and just sat there with him and talked quietly, trying to convince him to trust me a little bit.”
Whelan wrapped the gray owl in a blanket, moved it to a dog cage in the car and left it in Wildwoods. It was then sent along with another animal to the University of Minnesota Raptor Center in St. Paul.
But the female snowy owl he found hours later was in a much scarier situation, he said.
“Obviously, there was a lot more trauma,” he said.
Since Wildwoods had already closed for the night, Whelan wrapped Nowl in a blanket and placed her in a cage to spend the night in a dark, quiet room in her house.keeping his cousin’s curious cats and dog at bay. He named him Nowl, a play on the English words Noel and owl.
“I tried to prepare myself in case I woke up in the morning and she hadn’t survived the night,” Whelan said. But he said he cried with joy when he saw Nowl move and wake up, and he took her to Wildwoods that morning.
Nowl “is pretty badly hurt,” Wildwoods posted on Facebook Tuesday after examining the bird. “We put a bandage on her wing, gave her medication and coordinated with the Raptor Center to take her there.”
The rescue group said people should slow down, be alert and call for help when they see an injured animal. The animals become terrified of people and should be quickly moved to a safe, quiet space where they can be alone until professionals can intervene, the rescue said.