A great horned owl was rescued Thursday after spending hours tangled up in a fishing line and hanging upside down from a tree in Rio Hondo 

The female owl is currently safe and recovering with Dr. Ron Hines, a wildlife rehabilitator in Brownsville.

The owl is a protected species under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 

The fishing line that caught the owl was removed from her legs. 

“It doesn't cross a lot of people's minds that this little piece of fishing line is plastic,” Jake Reinbolt with the South Padre Island Birding Nature and Alligator Sanctuary said. “[It’s] more plastic going into the environment, more litter — all of that accumulates. It can cause serious problems."

Concerns that the owl wouldn’t make it are diminishing. She’s moving around more and her wing, which was previously thought to have been broken, is simply cut up by the fishing line.

“She's just very exhausted, she had a very long night,” Reinbolt said.

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