Click the image to see what happens when owls are kept as pets!

CASE AGAINST CAPTIVE OWLS AS PETS

Surely you must agree, that too often, the barn owl is portrayed as a cute pet rather than a wild, predatory creature.  The public are not discouraged from this view when they are able, without license or legislation, to purchase an owl for as little as £15 from trade-it papers or even on some occasions, pet shops.  With benefit of little or no correct information about husbandry or welfare, the result is usually a psychologically and sometimes physically damaged owl which cannot be rehabilitated or released.  Who gets to pick up the pieces when the bird is no longer wanted because it has become a food screamer or aggressive? It is a drain on the resources of organizations like the  BARN OWL CENTRE in Gloucester, and of those that are illegally released, it is highly unlikely that any survive, but in the event that they do, they are then competition for the indigenous wild population and their introduction is an interference with the ecological stability of the area.  It must be stopped in order for the conservation and preservation of the wild species to continue.