Maine State Police Rescue Wounded Owl in the Middle of I-95

A Maine State Trooper was helping a driver on I-95 in Fairfield, Maine Monday night when he spotted something else that needed help that was right in the middle of the highway.

A Northern barred owl, very common here in the northeast, was in the road wounded and Trooper Samuel Tlumac was able to get the owl out of the road and out of danger.

According to Wikipedia, barred owls have a wingspan of three to four feet and like most owls are nocturnal. If you live in New England and have been outdoors at night, you might have heard their very familiar call. Probably one of the most used owl calls in classic cartoons in scary outdoor settings like Scooby-Doo.

Here's a video shot in broad daylight of a barred owl demonstrating its call. I can only assume it couldn't sleep.

The particular owl didn't seem too afraid of humans and even looked to be posing with Trooper Tlumac for a picture. That also may be a product of whatever wounds the owl had, which were unknown a the time the State Police shared photos on their Facebook page.

The owl was taken to The Maine Warden Service in Sidney where a state biologist will do their thing to see what injuries the owl has and then if necessary send it off to an avian rehabilitation center where it will be well taken care of and hopefully released back into the wild when it's ready.