Unlikely animal friendships may have gone too far.
Animal rescuers from Arlington, Virginia thought they had seen it all until they stumbled upon an owl stuck to a turtle’s shell.
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The Animal Welfare League of Arlington received a call on July 12 from a resident who reported an owl that was having trouble flying. Deputy Animal Control Officer Ryan Robinson arrived to find the owl’s talon clamped around a turtle’s shell, trapping the two animals together, WJLA reports.
“This was a first for our Animal Control team,” the AWLA wrote to Twitter.
A video posted to TikTok shows the animal rescuers carefully lifting the owl and the turtle out of a pine-green carrier. The owl looks calm while wrapped in a yellow towel as Chief of Animal Control Jennifer Toussaint begins to separate the two animals.
Robinson and Toussaint were able to successfully free the two animals by dislodging the owl’s tail from the turtle’s top and bottom shell, the outlet says. The wildlife heros used a small, delicate pair of silver scissors, and inserted the blades into the gap between the turtle’s two shells until the tail popped out.
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The video also shows both animals tangled in what appears to be metal wire or rope.
While the owl sustained minor injuries from the incident, both animals are on the road to recovery. The owl and turtle are being cared for by a licensed wildlife rehabilitator until they are strong enough to resume life in the wild.
The AWLA rescue facility also serves as an adoption center for cats and dogs. Check out pets you can adopt HERE.
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