{"id":88450,"date":"2025-08-10T15:45:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T12:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/?p=88450"},"modified":"2025-08-10T14:29:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T11:29:40","slug":"owl-rescue-in-jerusalem-police-stunned-by-car-discovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/owl-rescue-in-jerusalem-police-stunned-by-car-discovery\/","title":{"rendered":"Owl Rescue in Jerusalem \u2013 Police Stunned by Car Discovery"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"502\" data-end=\"1131\">The Beit Hanina neighborhood in Jerusalem witnessed an unusual incident: officers from the Jerusalem District Police, together with the municipal veterinary service, rescued a Eurasian eagle-owl \u2013 the largest nocturnal bird of prey in the world \u2013 from a locked, sweltering car. This protected wild animal, whose natural home is the open wilderness, could have died within minutes in the intense heat. Thanks to the officers\u2019 quick action, its life was saved. The entire incident was caught on video and quickly spread across social media, sparking outrage and questions about human responsibility toward wildlife<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"1133\" data-end=\"1843\"><strong data-start=\"1133\" data-end=\"1162\">Rescue Under Extreme Heat<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"1133\" data-end=\"1843\">The report reached the police call center after passersby spotted the bird trapped inside the parked vehicle. Officers from the Shafat station in the Kedem district arrived promptly, identified the bird as a Eurasian eagle-owl \u2013 a protected species in Israel \u2013 and called in Jerusalem District bomb squad experts to open the car without harming the animal. <em data-start=\"1522\" data-end=\"1803\">&#8220;This is an unacceptable act in which a wild animal, whose place is free in nature, is unlawfully kept in poor conditions, and furthermore \u2013 left inside a locked car in the heavy heat\u2026 It is not unlikely that as a result, it could have lost its life due to a reckless human act,&#8221;<\/em> police said in an official statement<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"\u05e6\u05d9\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd: \u05d3\u05d5\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05e9\u05d8\u05e8\u05d4\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/LC_DSGONpQw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1845\" data-end=\"2157\">Thanks to the coordinated response, the owl was rescued apparently in good health and transferred to the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. It was taken to the Wildlife Hospital for thorough medical checks, after which experts will decide whether it can be returned to the wild or needs further rehabilitation<\/p>\n<h3 data-start=\"2159\" data-end=\"2705\"><strong data-start=\"2159\" data-end=\"2218\">The Eurasian Eagle-Owl \u2013 A Protected Nighttime Predator<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p data-start=\"2159\" data-end=\"2705\">The Eurasian eagle-owl (<em data-start=\"2245\" data-end=\"2256\">Bubo bubo<\/em>) is considered the largest nocturnal bird of prey in the world, with a wingspan reaching up to two meters. Found across Europe, Asia, and North Africa, it feeds on rodents, medium-sized birds, and reptiles. In Israel, it inhabits mountainous areas and cliffs, including the Jerusalem Hills. As an apex predator, it plays a key role in maintaining ecological balance, and harming or keeping one in captivity is a serious offense under Israeli law<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2159\" data-end=\"2705\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">(<a style=\"color: #0000ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/jerusalem-turns-into-argentina-nights-of-unrest-video\/\">Jerusalem Turns Into Argentina: Nights of Unrest \u2013 Video<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2707\" data-end=\"3014\">Cases of eagle-owls being held in captivity are rare but severe, and this incident highlights the urgent need to raise public awareness about protecting wildlife \u2013 especially during the scorching summer months, when the risk of heatstroke and dehydration can be deadly even for large and powerful animals<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jerusalem District Police rescued an eagle-owl from a sweltering car in Beit Hanina \u2013 and the dramatic video has gone viral<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":88451,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"9320","_seopress_titles_title":"Owl Rescue in Jerusalem \u2013 Police Stunned by Car Discovery","_seopress_titles_desc":"Jerusalem District Police rescued an eagle-owl from a sweltering car in Beit Hanina \u2013 and the dramatic video has gone viral","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10327,9319],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-88450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-breaking","8":"category-jerusalem-updates"},"acf":{"subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jerusalem-online.co.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}