An Arizona woman put an injured owl in her car to get it help. Then it woke up

An Arizona woman thought she was doing a good deed when she picked up an apparently injured owl off the side of the road and went to get help.

That is, until the owl woke up.

The woman was driving on Oracle Road north of Tucson on Monday night when she saw a dazed owl, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department in Tucson.

She thought the owl was hurt, so she put the bird in her car to get help for it, according to the Arizona Republic.

However, just after that, the bird woke up, latched onto the driver's sleeve and the steering wheel, and refused to let go.

The bird, a great horned owl, was apparently hit by a car when the woman found it, Game and Fish spokesman Mark Hart told the Republic.

Though the woman tried to douse the owl with water to get it out of the car, the owl drank the water and held on before it eventually let go and hopped out of the car, the Republic reported.

"She's fortunate she wasn't hurt," Hart told the Republic. In the agency's tweet, they warn people to not risk injury while aiding wildlife.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the best way to help a wild animal is by leaving it alone and contacting a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.

"Remember: wild animals are still wild and attempting to interact with them can cause harm to the animal or to you," their website reads.

Over the weekend, three family members in San Antonio were treated for minor bites after they found out the "kittens" they rescued were actually bobcats.

But there are stories of humans rescuing animals that have nicer endings: like the Texas man who wrangled an alligator that had been hit by an 18-wheeler. Or the Florida woman who found a frightened baby otter in her garage and called Animal Services for help.

This story was originally published May 9, 2018 at 10:09 AM with the headline "An Arizona woman put an injured owl in her car to get it help. Then it woke up."