Duluth Good Samaritan rescues 2 different owls on same day
(FOX 9) - It was a Christmas week miracle -- not just once, but twice for a Good Samaritan along the North Shore. Annabell Whelan rescued two different owls on Monday just hours apart.
Wildwoods and The Raptor Center helped care for the pair of owls
The first owl: Annabell Whelan works at Lake Superior Zoo. However, she was not on the clock when she made not one, but two incredible rescues this Christmas week.
She came across a great gray owl in distress in Two Harbors on Monday morning.
"I think once in a lifetime opportunity doesn’t do it justice," said Whelan. "It was kind of crazy seeing this large owl."
She reached out to Wildwoods, a rehabilitation center based in Duluth for help.
"I took the second sheet my mom had as kind of an extra barrier to put that over as well and kind of scooped him up," said Whelan.
Wildwoods arranged to transport the owl to The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota that same day.
The second owl: Monday evening, Whelan said she was leaving Bentleyville when something caught her eye.
"I was like is that what I think it is?"
It was another owl. A snowy owl this time was stuck to the front of a car.
"I was like okay, I already did this once today, I think I can probably do it again," said Whelan. "Brought her out and I just had her in my arms. The people whose car it was, they got a blanket out and we kind of wrapped her in it to try and keep the body heat."
She got the snowy owl to Wildwoods as soon as they were open.
"I’ve been here for five-and-a-half years, and I have never had one person find two different owls in the same day," said Jessica LaBumbard, executive director at Wildwoods.
Wildwoods did an initial evaluation and arranged transportation to The Raptor Center for treatment.
How the owls are doing
Status check: In an update on Thursday, the medical director at The Raptor Center said unfortunately, the snowy owl had severe internal trauma and broken bones, the kindest option was euthanasia.
"That bird had very severe internal trauma and it had two broken bones. Unfortunately, where those fractures occurred, we could not repair them in a way where the bird would be able to fly again," said Dr. Dana Franzen-Klein, medical director of The Raptor Center. "For that snowy owl, the kindest option we had for that bird was euthanasia to end its suffering and let it pass peacefully."
The great gray owl is still being treated for a fracture and large wound.
"Anytime a raptor has a chance for treatment and a possibility for release back to the wild, we do everything we can," said Franzen-Klein.
Whelan said she is sad to hear the news, and still cannot fully put into words how special these two encounters have been.
"It felt good knowing she got help and was given the best chance that she could have been given," said Whelan. "I was just so in the moment and so stunned and almost like starstruck by getting to hold these two massive birds."