# Eagle Owl loose in Wales!!



## kellysmith1976 (Jun 10, 2008)

Just saw this on another forum!

WalesOnline - News - Cardiff News - Lock up your cats and dogs, there’s a killer on the pr-owl!


----------



## PinkSnake (Sep 1, 2006)

RSPCA spokesman Gethin Russell-Jones said: “This is one of the biggest birds in the world and it is not native to the UK. Over here, you would only really ever find one in a zoo.
“The latest sightings have all been in the Pontcanna/Canton area so it makes you wonder if it is staying close to its home.
“You have got to wonder who on earth would keep a bird like that in their garden – the cage would have to be enormous.
“It has talons so sharp it can punch through steel and it would have to be chained all the time.”

:bash:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

PinkSnake said:


> RSPCA spokesman Gethin Russell-Jones said: “This is one of the biggest birds in the world and it is not native to the UK. Over here, you would only really ever find one in a zoo.
> “The latest sightings have all been in the Pontcanna/Canton area so it makes you wonder if it is staying close to its home.
> “You have got to wonder who on earth would keep a bird like that in their garden – the cage would have to be enormous.
> “It has talons so sharp it can punch through steel and it would have to be chained all the time.”
> ...


Sounds about right for the RSPCA! :bash:


----------



## LauraandLee (Nov 11, 2008)

I havent seen it :lol2:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

And how do they know it is an escaped pet? There are European Eagle Owls living wild in the UK.


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Oh dear lord - what a load of bull! The whole thing is laughable. If this bird is indeed captive, then the chances of it catching a mouse let alone a cat or small dog is slim. Let's hope the RSPCA don't get a hold of it. It would need an enormous cage? They hardly fly, and will only fly to get away from a predator or to hunt. Need to be chained up? Oh dear. We have been lucky then because ours free-lofts a wood and 1x1-2x2 mesh aviary. Talons that punch through steel? That's the least of your worries with them feet. Killing foxes and small deer? Or there have been sightings of a hungry owl on carrion. :lol2:


----------



## spider_duck (Feb 25, 2008)

:lol2: I was in Cardiff yesterday and came across the headline "Killer bird of prey loose in Cardiff", I was creased :lol2: I can just imagine somewone sat out the garden, and a giant bird coming down and carrying them off by the shoulders into the sunset........


----------



## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Zoo-Man said:


> And how do they know it is an escaped pet? There are European Eagle Owls living wild in the UK.


Agreed why assume they are escaped pets.There has been only a couple pairs breeding wild in yorkshire.Over the past years European engle owl have been doing well in mainland Europe.So why wouldn't some come BACK to the UK.Yes i said BACK the UK was once there home range so why can't it be again.

Eurasian eagle owl range.It's not that far from the green to the UK.


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

LoveForLizards said:


> Oh dear lord - what a load of bull! The whole thing is laughable. If this bird is indeed captive, then the chances of it catching a mouse let alone a cat or small dog is slim. Let's hope the RSPCA don't get a hold of it. It would need an enormous cage? They hardly fly, and will only fly to get away from a predator or to hunt. Need to be chained up? Oh dear. We have been lucky then because ours free-lofts a wood and 1x1-2x2 mesh aviary. Talons that punch through steel? That's the least of your worries with them feet. *Killing foxes and small deer*? Or there have been sightings of a hungry owl on carrion. :lol2:


European Eagle owls can & do kill foxes & small deer. Some falconers are now using them to control foxes after the hunting ban.


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

spider_duck said:


> :lol2: I was in Cardiff yesterday and came across the headline "Killer bird of prey loose in Cardiff", I was creased :lol2: I can just imagine somewone sat out the garden, and a giant bird coming down and carrying them off by the shoulders into the sunset........


Hiya chicken! Long time no see!

And owls aren't birds of prey :lol2:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

gazz said:


> Agreed why assume they are escaped pets.There has been only a couple pairs breeding wild in yorkshire.Over the past years European engle owl have been doing well in mainland Europe.So why wouldn't some come BACK to the UK.Yes i said BACK the UK was once there home range so why can't it be again.
> 
> Eurasian eagle owl range.It's not that far from the green to the UK.
> image


There was a pair that bred last year in Lancashire. The pair began swooping on walkers 7 their dogs to protect their nest, so the council closed the footpath until the owls had reared their chicks.


----------



## jacko1 (Jul 4, 2009)

these are living in uk now and have been for a few years i had them as a kid and my brother still has 2 of them they are big strong birds but all of what the rspca are saying is bolox 

there was one living in middlesbrough for ages and it was fine and never harmed any one


----------



## spider_duck (Feb 25, 2008)

Zoo-Man said:


> Hiya chicken! Long time no see!
> 
> And owls aren't birds of prey :lol2:


Im just relaying what the headline said :lol2::lol2::lol2:
How are you my duckduck??

If I see mr owl, I shall invite him in for a cup of tea


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Zoo-Man said:


> And owls aren't birds of prey :lol2:


Owls are classified as birds of prey.
*



Birds of prey

Click to expand...

*


> are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as any bird that kills its prey with its talons.



Birds of Prey have 7 groups/families (Falconidae, Cathartidae, Pandi., Accipitridae, Sagittariidae, *Strigidae (eagle owls, etc) and Tytonidae (Bay owls/barn owls)* ), there is no official classification as to what families are birds of prey, it is simply a bird that hunts for prey on the wing.


: victory:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

LoveForLizards said:


> Owls are classified as birds of prey.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


*

Vultures are birds of prey, but they don't kill their prey with their talons.*


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

spider_duck said:


> Im just relaying what the headline said :lol2::lol2::lol2:
> How are you my duckduck??
> 
> If I see mr owl, I shall invite him in for a cup of tea


Well my little quacker, invite me along too please!


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Vultures also don't 'hunt prey on the wing', they are only classed as birds of prey because of their ancestors.


----------



## spider_duck (Feb 25, 2008)

Zoo-Man said:


> Well my little quacker, invite me along too please!


come on down! Im stuck in on my sodding own for a week! :lol2:


----------



## jacko1 (Jul 4, 2009)

birds of prey are birds that eat meat allso known as raptors the vultures and condares aswell as crows and jack doors and a few others are carion they scavange


----------



## leggy (Jan 18, 2007)

Zoo-Man said:


> There was a pair that bred last year in Lancashire. The pair began swooping on walkers 7 their dogs to protect their nest, so the council closed the footpath until the owls had reared their chicks.


wasnt it on the news this year that one had been found shot?


----------



## Shell195 (May 31, 2007)

Where in Lancs where they Colin ??


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

jacko1 said:


> birds of prey are birds that eat meat allso known as raptors the vultures and condares aswell as crows and jack doors and a few others are carion they scavange


Crows & Jackdaws aren't birds of prey, the are corvids.

Birds of prey are diurnal (active by day) hunting birds that possess a crop. Owls do not possess crops, rather their food goes straight to theor stomach.


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Shell195 said:


> Where in Lancs where they Colin ??


If I remember correctly Shell, it was near Clitheroe


----------



## Josh-sama (Sep 26, 2008)

Wow. Pontcanna is just down the road. Will have to go have a lookie-see.


----------



## gazz (Dec 9, 2006)

Bird of prey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## Joe1507 (Aug 11, 2008)

Would it be wrong to say someone in my family MAY have a pet one:whistling2:


----------



## Zoo-Man (Apr 12, 2008)

Joe1507 said:


> Would it be wrong to say someone in my family MAY have a pet one:whistling2:


No, nothing wrong with that, as long as it is looked after correctly.


----------



## PinkSnake (Sep 1, 2006)

Joe1507 said:


> Would it be wrong to say someone in my family MAY have a pet one:whistling2:


No, lots of people do, people on here included.


----------



## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

This is a bit worrying as I came across a classified advert last week where an eagle owl was for sale in Canton, Cardiff very cheaply, and sale was needed immediately due to moving. I'm not that worried that a captive escaped eagle owl is going to start ploughing down cats and dogs but I am worried that it is possible that due to the irresponsibility of one person this animal could well be injured or killed, or if lacking the ability to hunt if it was hand reared may not adjust well enough to survive. Or that it was sold cheaply and quickly to someone with no experience and the bird has now escaped.

That sighting is actually 4 doors down from the house I used to rent and is about 5 mins walk from here... and about 10 mins walk from the person who was advertising the bird for sale.

The REALLY irritating thing is that within a 20 minute drive there is the Welsh Bird of Prey Centre, and there is absolutely no reason if this is a pet to release it into the wild. There is no way the Bird of Prey centre would turn down any rescue if the owner was genuinely totally unable to look after it.

I hope it is found quickly and if believed or proven to be a captive animal then it is not destroyed but given to an appropriate centre or home that is experienced, and if a wild animal released away from the city in a safer area where it can cause less alarm.


----------



## Spadger (Jun 16, 2009)

If this bird is indeed captive, then the chances of it catching a mouse let alone a cat or small dog is slim. 


At the risk of starting another argument :lol2:
One of my European Eagle Owls flew off and lived for 6 months in the wild before returning to us in which time she hunted rats and birds. There were even a couple of local cats went missing but no-one seemed to apportion the blame to her on that one.

But yet again the RSPCA get it wrong and everyone believes them


----------



## LoveForLizards (Apr 20, 2008)

Spadger said:


> If this bird is indeed captive, then the chances of it catching a mouse let alone a cat or small dog is slim.
> 
> 
> At the risk of starting another argument :lol2:
> ...


No not at all, tounge in cheek and all that, but easily the majority of EEO's owned are aviary birds so have no sense of giving chase IYKWIM. I understand they can and will hunt, however I don't see them becoming falconry birds anytime soon. :lol2:


----------



## Joe1507 (Aug 11, 2008)

Well someone in my family MAY have one, its a vicious bast:censor: Lol

gets fed chicks and rats I belive, awesome thing though bright orange eyes, hisses at people alot Lol.


----------

