A POLICE officer who swooped to the rescue of an injured owl he discovered bleeding in the road has released the bird after rehabilitating it back to health.

The tawny owl appeared to form a strong bond with Traffic Officer Martin Usher, who had discovered the bird of prey lying in the road at 5am on December 10, as he drove between Richmond and Catterick Garrison on patrol.

“When I first saw the owl, it was laid in the road and when I reversed back it was stood up," he said.

"Usually at night owls just sit and watch you and as soon as you step out the car they fly off. But this one didn’t.

"I took off my body armour and wrapped it up in my fleece.”

The bird appeared to have been recently hit by a car and was bleeding from an eye injury.

TC Usher, popped the bird inside his fleece, where it fell asleep between the jacket and his shirt and took it back to the station before heading out to a friend’s bird of prey centre.

The bird of prey appeared non-plussed by being in a police station or a police car.

“He wasn’t phased by the journey at all. He poked his head out at the zip, so he could see where he was going and seemed quite comfortable,” said TC Usher, who is a member of North Yorkshire Police's Roads Policing Group.

The Northern Echo:

Lunar the tawny owl having a sleep in the police station before

The owl, which the traffic officer named Lunar, was then checked over by the specialist at the centre who found he had not suffered any other damage other than the injury to his eye and shock from the accident.

He recommended the owl be kept was kept indoors where it was warm, quiet and dry so he could recover without having to hunt or use up his body fat reserves to keep warm. He provided TC Usher with an owl box to place indoors.

Without both eyes fully functioning, Lunar was unable to hunt, and his flight was slightly clumsy as he was unable to judge depth or distance.

“Every day I opened the box I’d put my hand in and he’d hop onto my finger. He dug his talons in just enough so he could balance so I didn’t need to wear gloves,” said TC Usher.

“I put him up against my chest where it was warm and he nuzzled in for warmth.

"His eye still wasn’t open after a few days, so I got an eye bath and he let me work through his feathers round his eye to de-clog them and by the seventh or eight day his eye was open, but cloudy as it was still bruised.”

The traffic officer continued taking advice from his local vet and the bird of prey specialist, who provided him with strips of rat cut to the size of a mouse to mimic Lunar’s natural food source.

The bird still seemed quite happy in his surroundings and began to wait by the door to his owl box, ready to fly out and perch on his carer’s shoulder, or on top of his indoor Christmas tree.

By December 22 the bird’s eye was open and the police officer took him to the bird of prey centre to readjust him to a more natural habitat, before he released Lunar back into woodland, near where he had been found.

The owl quickly made the adjustment back to his wild habitat and swooped around the police officer before settling in a nearby tree.

“It just seemed surprising how he seemed to know I wasn’t a threat to him and was just trying to help,” said TC Usher.