'It was quite the ride': Snowy owl rides shotgun to safety

Luc Duchesne did not believe his co-worker when she told him she saw a white owl sitting across the road Wednesday evening.

So he stood up from his seat at the Purolator Call Centre in Champlain Street, Dieppeand walked to the window.

"Sure enough, there was the owl. But something did not look right to me," he said.

The snowy owl wasn't moving around, it was just sitting there on the grass.

So Duchesne walked to his vehicle and grabbed a blanket.

He then ran across the street to the owl to make sure everything was okay.

"She did not seem like she was okay. She looked dazed and confused. And she was looking up at me like she was lost," he said.

With the blanket, Duchesne scooped the owl up without any trouble.

"There was no issue, there wasn't a peep."

He then called the Atlantic Wildlife Institute in Cookville, N.B.,a charity dedicated to the rescue and rehabilitation of displaced wildlife, for help. They told him they would send a crew to pick up the bird and make sure it was alright.

Duchesne put the bird in the front seat of his car and drove it to his home, where it was to be picked up.

Riding shotgun

Once in the car, he did not turn the radio on as he normally would because he was afraid the owl would panic.

But it didn't make a peep. It just stared out the window and glanced at Duchesne a few times.

"She was better than my kids in that seat. It was quite the ride," he said.

Slowly, he gave it a pat and scratched itshead. It didn't seem to mind at all.

"I just wanted to reassure herI'm not here to hurt you, just here to help."

At home, Duchesne put the snowy owlin an old birdcage he had. The wildlife rescue arrived an hour after he called and took itto the institute.

Underweight and weak

"From what I heard from the vet she had a little head trauma probably because she hit one of the billboards," said Duchesne after calling the Atlantic Wildlife Institute Thursday morning.

According to Pam Novak, the institute's director of wildlife care, "There are no injuries we can see offhand, but it is extremely underweight and weak."

She said the owl has no strength and that is why it was so easily picked up.

And Novak believes the bird is male and in its first year, althoughDuchesnereferred to it as a she, and in its first year.

The owl will be at the institute for a few months to make sure it heals okay and then it will be released.

Novak said snowy owls breed in the Arctic but migrate down south during winter months.

She is hoping this snowy owl will get better before spring so it can migrate back up north.

Duchesne recommends people call the Atlantic Wildlife Institute if they ever see a wildlife animal in trouble.

"I'm just glad she is safe," he said.