Skip to content

Another snowy owl rescue

'I hear this bang on the side of my truck and I thought what was that noise, it scared the hell out of me'
20180316snowyowl2
An injured snowy owl in the back of Aurel St. Jean's truck after he rescued him. Photo submitted.

Another bizarre twist to a snowy owl story. 

A day after a snowy owl was rescued from the Northgate Shopping Centre parking garage, it appears the same bird got into another situation.  

See related: Snowy Owl rescued from parking garage

However, a good Samaritan came to its aid and likely saved its life.  

Aurel St. Jean, who works at SJ Auto, was driving his truck and had turned off Fisher Street onto the highway Tuesday, and just before he reached the railway crossing he felt a weird bang against the side of his door.  

“I hear this bang on the side of my truck and I thought what was that noise, it scared the hell out of me,” St. Jean recalled. 

“So I look and see something fall on the ground through my mirror, I saw something white,”  

St. Jean proceeded back to SJ Auto and checked to see if there was any damage, and then saw there was none. 

“I felt bad so I had to go back and see what it was,” he said.  

He went back to the scene of the unusual collision and saw a giant white bird laying in the middle of the highway.  

Literally risking his own safety, St. Jean went out onto the highway to pick up the bird, not knowing whether it was still alive or not.  

Fortunately, the stunned bird started to move and St. Jean put the injured animal in the back of his truck.  

“It was knocked right out, I brought it here and about 10 minutes later it finally came to,” he said.  

After making unsuccessful calls for help to the MNRF, St. Jean recalled a previous incident in North Bay where a couple found another wounded owl and brought it to Wild at Heart Refuge Centre in Lively. 

See related: Couple rescues injured Snowy Owl

He called the refuge centre and they offered to take the bird in.  

“I took the day off and drove up on Wednesday and brought it up there,” said St. Jean. 

Once he got there, officials at the refuge diagnosed the snowy owl with a concussion and a broken wing.   

St. Jean says he has the refuge’s phone number and email and they reassured him they would keep him updated as to the snowy owl’s health progress.  


Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
Read more

Reader Feedback