This holiday season, an owl got its wings back because a sheriff's deputy saved its life.

Ted Bumstead often comes across wildlife while he's on patrol in Yavapai County, in Arizona's high country between Phoenix and the Grand Canyon.

Usually he finds animals when it's too late, after poachers or accidents leave them dead or injured beyond hope.

September was different. While patrolling a back road, he noticed something strange. It was a great horned owl, perched in a juniper. Owls are nocturnal, but this one was out in broad daylight.

He slowed down and realized what that owl was probably watching: Another great horned owl tangled in a barbed wire fence.

Bumstead figured this would be another case of an animal found too late. But when he stopped, to his surprise, the entangled owl was still alive.

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Barbed wire had wrapped around its wing. The other owl, perched in the juniper, screeched and flew off as Bumstead approached the fence to untangle the barbed wire.

Bumstead knew that the owl likely wouldn’t fly again without help.

Unlike spotted owls that are considered threatened in some habitats, great horned owls are a common species across North America.

The owls, though, are widely known for their distinctive eyes and feather "horns," giving the bird an arresting look iconic among birds of prey.

After Bumstead found the bird, the Arizona Game and Fish Department sent the owl to Liberty Wildlife, an animal rehabilitation center in Phoenix.

Several months later, Game and Fish officials invited Bumstead to see the owl again.

In Aubrey Valley west of Flagstaff earlier this month, he opened the crate containing the caged bird.

Its big eyes looked at Bumstead, frightened by its new surroundings. Bumstead smiled back.

Then, the owl spread its wings and took flight.

“It was nice to see him go back out there where he belongs,” Bumstead said.

On that day several months ago, Bumstead had noticed the wounded owl because of the other bird — the one that had been sitting in the treetop watching.

He'll never know, of course, but he has an idea why that had happened.

The bird in the treetop, he thought, was the mother owl.

She had flown away only once help arrived.

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