Police give tiny owl a ride in New Zealand

Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A pair of New Zealand police officers ended up doing a ride-along with a tiny owl they found wandering in a street.

The Bay of Plenty Police said in an Instagram post that Senior Constables Marty Madsen and Willy Searle were working a late shift in Opotiki when they spotted an animal they initially thought to be a hedgehog in the road.

The officers took a closer look and realized the animal was an owl that "had been clipped by a car."

"I put him in the car and shot back into town as Marty is a bit of a bird whisperer," Searle said. "By the time I got back to town, he started to warm up and flap around a bit."

The constables decided to return the owl to the wild at Waiotahe Beach.

Searle said the encounter was "a bit of a privilege, really."