Border Police officers stationed in the Jerusalem area on Saturday rescued a Eurasian eagle-owl that had become entangled in the security fence in the eastern part of the city and injured, police said.

When the officers first noticed the bird, one of the world’s largest species of owl, they were concentrated that it could attack them due to its distress and the fact that it was wounded, police said in a statement.

After they extricated the eagle-owl from the barbed wire, they transferred it to the Nature and Parks Authority for medical treatment.

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The bird’s condition wasn’t immediately clear, the statement said, and it was too early to tell whether it could eventually be returned to nature.

The officers’ commander congratulated them on the effort, saying: “Without your alertness, which led to the bird’s rescue, it likely would have died of exhaustion and thirst in the extreme heat.

“With your actions you put into practice the values of the unit, foremost of which is to protect the lives of people and animals alike,” the officer said.