Kristen Brown, associate vice president for news and communications, contacted the department after hearing a strange noise coming from inside the chimney in her office, where crews found a bunch of leaves arranged in a nest.
"We first thought it was a squirrel nest," FMD building coordinator Randy Orange told Duke Today. "We hoped that by making some noise, we would see it scurry out the top."
The next day, Chris Sisk, a technician from Critter Control, arrived and determined the creature was actually an owl.
Sisk managed to pull the owl down from the chimney using an extension arm and after it crashed into a window he and Orange managed to guide the bird out the office door.
"Occasionally, we'll be called to remove a bat or catch an opossum or raccoon," Orange said. "But this was our first owl. He appeared to be stuck. We definitely didn't want to hurt him. We wanted to get him out safely."
The owl was eventually able to fly its way to freedom as Brown was left trying to guess the reason for its visit.
"I assume he was here to drop off my letter to Hogwarts," she said. "And someone else asked me if we got to the bottom of the question, how many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll Pop?"
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