GHO wrecks pickup truck and survives

[dale]

HAYSVILLE, Ind. – Talk about one tough owl. Police in southern Indiana said a great horned owl flew through the pre-dawn darkness into the front of a moving Ford F-250 pickup truck — and survived even as the collision mangled the truck's radiator.

The bird was left trapped inside the grill of the truck driven by James Ellis of Shoals. A Dubois County sheriff's deputy called a state Department of Natural Resources officer to the scene Thursday on U.S. 231 near Haysville to remove the owl.

Conservation Officer Tony Mann said the bird was conscious and appeared to have a broken or dislocated wing and assorted scrapes. He was able to free the owl and sent it to a wildlife rehabilitator in Vincennes for treatment.