nelliethehooker replied on 12/10/2019 19:40
Posted on 12/10/2019 19:40
Most concerned today!! We saw a couple of large guys with 3 Barn Owl chicks, of about 6 weeks of age, out by Wooler Common Ponds. They had placed one chick onto the branch of a tree and were taking multiple photos of it. I guess they would be doing the same with the other two in turn. I enquired whether they were going to release them in time, but one guy said that he reared birds of prey and these would go to other people. I then ask if they were for display purposes but he replied that they were going as pets!! Unbelievable that some people should want a Barn Owl as a pet and that the guy was obviously selling them for a profit. I suppose that the photos would have been posted on line and the birds would be passed onto the highest bidders. Disgraceful. I see that the Barn Owl Trust doesn't recommend them that they be kept as pets but it obviously allowed in this country. However the United States does not allow private individuals to keep native owls as pets--they may only be possessed by trained, licensed individuals while being rehabilitated, as foster parents in a rehabilitation facility, as part of a breeding program, for educational purposes. I wonder why we don't follow this practice.
Rant over.
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nelliethehooker
Caravanner from Cumberland