TOWER—Two young Hibbing residents received “a good talking to” by a DNR conservation officer after they “kidnapped” a great gray owl that had become a fixture near the Hwy. 169 bridge in Tower. The large owl, which was quite tame around humans (as is typical of the species), had attracted considerable attention from birders and photographers in recent weeks, since the bird was so reliably found hunting in the vicinity of the bridge.

But on Saturday, the visitors from Hibbing, described as in their early 20s, spotted the bird on the ground and assumed it was injured or starving. They first tried contacting the local conservation officer, Dan Starr, but when he didn’t respond immediately (he was off-duty and away from home) they grabbed the bird and placed it in the trunk of their car.

Whether the owl was on the ground with prey, or had been temporarily stunned—possibly by a car— is unclear, but by the time the owlnappers reached home, the owl was in no mood to hang around. When they opened the trunk, the owl flew out and landed in a nearby tree in a residential neighborhood near downtown Hibbing.

Nancy Melin said she noticed people standing in her yard on Saturday afternoon, and walked out to find the owl sitting in one of her trees. The owl spent the night in the tree, and Melin started making phone calls Saturday evening to the raptor center, and finally to the Hibbing Fire Department, which dispatched a ladder truck to the scene on Sunday. Melin also spoke with wildlife rehabilitator Jody Benolken, of Pengilly, who traveled to Hibbing on Sunday to take possession of the owl if the fire department could catch it.

By this time, however, local crows had spotted the owl and at least two dozen of them began mercilessly harassing the larger bird. “The crows just started hammering it,” said Conservation Officer Dan Starr, who also responded to the scene. “It was amazing to watch. I didn’t realize they hated each other that much.”

Melin said she and others tried scaring the crows away, but it took constant effort because the crows kept coming back.

When the fire department arrived, firefighters were able to position the ladder near the owl, but as a firefighter approached up the ladder, the bird eventually flew a few blocks away, where it perched in another tree.

Benolken, who works with many species of wildlife, said the owl flew “really well,” and she assumes it may have only been momentarily stunned after an impact with a vehicle. “I don’t know what the people were planning to do with the owl once they got it to their house,” said Benolken, who was concerned that the owl’s plight may have been exacerbated by the action of the owlnappers. “The owl just needed to get himself out of town,” she said, in order to find food and evade the mob of crows.

Hibbing Fire Chief Scott Nehiba, said it was one of the more unusual calls they’ve received in a while, but noted it wasn’t the first time the department had been dispatched to rescue animals. “We once had a pet parrot in a tree and an iguana on someone’s roof,” he said.

By Monday, the owl had apparently moved on, and its whereabouts are currently unknown.

Starr said the actions of the two Hibbing residents were illegal, but they likely won’t face charges because they insist they were trying to help an owl they believed to be injured. “The key is, when you find injured wildlife, to leave them be,” said Starr. “Either someone is on the way, or it’s best to let nature take its course.”