Injured owl rescued at NAIA

Airport workers at NAIA brought to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources office (DENR-NAIA) a young owl that was injured when it crashed onto a windshield of a car near the NAIA on Tuesday. The owl will be brought to DENR rescue center in Quezon City for further treatment. Photo by Rudy Santos

AN owl was badly injured after being hit by a speeding car while hunting for food near the aircraft movement area at  the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

NAIA-DENR chief Glen Pastorfide said an airport employee turned over the dying owl on Tuesday. He said the owl was hit by the window shield of a speeding car.

The owl was too weak to fly and  was sprawled on the ground when found by an airport employee near the airport’s runway, Pastorfide said.

The wildlife rescue team managed to revive the dying owl and was turned over to the DENR-NCR Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit detailed at NAIA Terminal 1.

An airport employee said that they noticed something in the airport’s runway and when they took a closer look, they found the bird lying on the ground.

Pastorfide said the grassy portion of the airport’s runway provides owls good hunting grounds for mice and other prey, especially during night time.

Pastorfide said they will bring the owl to the rescue center of DENR in Quezon City for immediate treatment.

Early last year, airport operations personnel also rescued an injured barn owl near a runway.