CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Many raptors, like owls, make their homes and birth their babies inside the cavities of trees.

But recently, a barn owl got himself stuck in a split tree and had to rely on humans to save him.

This male barn owl was seen thrashing around helplessly, flapping his wings violently after his head got stuck in a tree.

A Coral Gables firefighter in a bucket truck helped cut the bird out of the precarious situation.

“Owls typically like to nest in cavities, so dead trees a lot of the time, and unfortunately for this one, that tree had a big split on the side (and he) somehow managed to get himself stuck in there,” said Sarah Lyon with the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station.

Once the little guy was freed, he was taken straight to the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station to be examined.

“Luckily he wasn’t that bad,” said Yaritza Acosta with the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station. “He had a banged-up wrist, no bruising, no fractures.”

He wrist is actually his wing, so he received medication for the pain, fluids, laser treatments and supportive care.

The owl was considered a high stress patient who needed to recover and relax his wings.

“By the next day, he was angry and wanted to get out of there,” said Acosta. “(We) moved him outside to have some outside time to make sure he could fly.”

When it comes to wild animals, the rehabbers don’t want them to be friendly or nice to humans, so if that barn owl is angry, that’s a good thing because it means he is itching to get back home.

Exactly two weeks later, the owl was ready to be released back near his home in Coral Gables.

Pelican Harbor Seabird Station saves about 2,000 animals every year, so quite a crowd was gathered to see the healed barn owl fly off back where he belongs.

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