Escape artist owl gives Washington state rescuers the slip

Sept. 27 (UPI) -- An injured owl rescued by a Washington state police officer proved it has some escape artistry skills when it got loose inside the car before later escaping custody entirely.

The Bellevue Police Department said Officer Worthington scooped up the apparently immobilized owl from the side of a road Thursday and put it inside a bag for transport to a veterinarian.

The owl got loose from the bag in transit and Worthington snapped a photo of the owl riding shotgun on the dashboard of his patrol vehicle.

"Hopefully, he didn't get cited for no seatbelt," Bellevue police tweeted.

A veterinarian at Aerowood Animal Hospital in Bellevue determined the owl was not badly injured, merely bruised and already on the mend. A 911 dispatcher took the owl home to be delivered to the PAWS shelter for care the following day, but the bird had other plans.

The owl got loose inside the dispatcher's house and ended up flying out the front door before it could be wrangled.