A family from Georgia found an owl living in their Christmas tree ahead of Christmas this year.
Katie McBride Newman made the discovery last week when she, India, and Jack, her 2 kids, were eating dinner.
10-year-old India was clearing the table when she saw the owl.
Katie said she heard India screaming.
India went to her and said, “Mama, that ornament scared me”.
India started the cry afterward.
Katie is a fan of Owls, and the tree had around a dozen owl ornaments.
Initially, Katie thought India was spooked by one of her ornaments.
Katie calmed her daughter at first and went to the tree to check it out.
Upon checking the tree, she realized that it was a real owl.
Katie believes that the Owl lived at Christmas for over 1 week.
Katie and her family purchased the tree from a store 2 days after Thanksgiving.
The family believes that the owl flow in and took refuge inside their tree.
When the family found the owl, they opened the windows and doors with hopes of the bird flying away on its own.
The owl did not fly away, so Billy, the husband of Katie, and Katie herself called the Chattahoochee Nature Center, a non-profit environmental center that is around 1 hour away from their house.
An employee of the Center told the family to leave some raw chicken for the Owl.
On the morning of Saturday, an employee from the center stopped by and caught the bird.
The owl is an Eastern Screech Owl.
The rescuer placed the owl inside a crate and told Katie and Billy to open the crate during night time so the owl can fly away.
Katie did what the rescuer told her.
The owl flew away on its own.