“I tried to prepare myself in case I woke up in the morning and she didn't make it through the night,” Whelan said. But she said she cried happy tears when she saw Nowl moving and awake, bringing her to Wildwoods that morning. ????? ???????

Since Wildwoods had already closed for the night, Whelan wrapped Nowl in a blanket and crated her overnight in a dark, quiet room in her home — keeping her and her cousin's curious cats and dog at bay. She named her Nowl, a play on noel. ????????????  

Whelan scooped the owl up in a blanket, transferred him to a dog crate in the car and dropped the great gray owl off at Wildwoods. He was sent along with another animal to the University of Minnesota's Raptor Center in St. Paul. ?????  

Earlier Monday, Whelan found an injured great gray owl on the ground further north in Two Harbors, Minnesota. Experts at Wildwoods, a Duluth-based wildlife rehabilitation center, told her how to safely catch the bird. ????? ???????  

Whelan was out with her boyfriend's family Monday in Duluth, Minnesota, when she saw the owl “just hanging out there, literally" after car and bird had collided, she told The Associated Press. The car's owner had already called for help, but the animal rescue organization that the bird needed was closed — so Whelan stepped in, not for the first