A Georgia family found a wild owl hiding out in their Christmas tree.
Katie McBride Newman and her kids discovered the owl on Dec. 12 after her daughter, India, got scared of an ornament on the tree, according to a report published Thursday by CNN.
A Georgia family got a special holiday surprise last week after finding an owl hiding inside their Christmas tree https://t.co/MhWI56OFwb
— CNN (@CNN) December 19, 2019
“She comes very dramatically into the dining room and goes, ‘Mama, that ornament scared me,'” Newman told CNN. “Then she bursts into tears.”
Newman, who is a fan of owls, had about a dozen owl ornaments on the tree, so she went to check out the situation not realizing it was going to be a wild animal. When she looked at the ornament, the owl turned its head and stared at her.
“And I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s a real owl,'” she recalled. (RELATED: Some Grinches Showed Up To My House Last Night And Stole My Christmas Lights. We Have It All On Video)
The Christmas tree had been purchased two days after Thanksgiving. Newman tried to help the owl escape the home on its own by leaving the windows open the night the owl was discovered. After calling the Chattahoochee Nature Center, the Newman family was told to feed the owl raw chicken and water.
Originally, the family believed the wild owl had flown into their home and taken refuge in the tree. However, after the owl was rescued, the employee realized the owl was thin and had probably been in the tree since it was purchased.
The owl has now been returned safely to the wild.