Angry Owl Rescued From Behind SUV Dashboard

SAN CARLOS (CBS SF) -- Officials with the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA announced Tuesday that staff were able to successfully extract an owl that got trapped behind the dashboard of an SUV over the weekend.

Staff members managed the rescue thanks to a portable inspection camera and a handy set of tools, officials said.

On September 17, the Peninsula Humane Society received a call from a woman reporting that an owl was trapped inside her vehicle.

Rescue staff quickly went to the scene in San Carlos to find a young owl that had somehow wedged himself behind the dashboard of the woman's sport utility vehicle.

While staff could hear the owl scratching, they couldn't see the bird until they used a portable inspection camera to snake behind the dashboard.

"Once the position of the owl was detected by our camera, our rescue staff was tasked with having to dismantle the glove compartment box to reach the owl," said PHS/SPCA Communications Manager Buffy Martin-Tarbox.  "The owl was trapped behind the dashboard, but our staff was able to safely remove him."

Once the owl was safely extracted from the inner workings of the vehicle, staff members transported him to the PHS/SPCA Wildlife Care Center in Burlingame for evaluation.  The owl was identified as a Western Screech Owl, a bird that is native to the Peninsula.

"As you can imagine, he was more than a little peeved to be stuck in his situation, but health wise he doesn't seem any worse for wear despite his predicament," Martin-Tarbox said.

The Wildlife Care Center will keep the owl under observation until the bird is medically cleared to return to the wild.