Early Wednesday morning, officers with the Little Rock Police Department rescued an owl that was struck by a tractor-trailer, police said.
Police received a call around 2:20 a.m. about the struck owl in the 8100 block of Frazier Pike, according to police spokesman Mark Edwards.
Officers reached out to the Little Rock Zoo and were told if they could capture the owl, zoo staff would transport it to Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas in El Paso, police said.
The owl was placed in a box and brought to the 12th Street Division and turned over to the Little Rock Zoo for transport, according to police.
Rodney Paul, director of Raptor Rehab of Central Arkansas, said he picked up the barred owl from a vet clinic Wednesday and the owl had no broken bones and no injuries.
"It's pretty incredible to be hit by an 18-wheeler and survive, period, but to have no injuries is pretty remarkable," he said.
The owl did show signs of a sore leg, so the rehab center will keep the animal crated for five days and provide pain medication, Paul said. The owl will be re-evaluated and once he can take flight be released into the wild.
Paul said it's very common for any raptor to be hit by a vehicle. In fact, 95% of their intake birds have been hit by vehicles.
He said owls are more active this time of year, because breeding season just ended and they animals are out searching for food.