Hi,

Spoke to a man in the market today and he offered me a "baby owl" for £20.00 says he will be back Sat?
He had a baby owl in a "small cat carrier" he was delivering it for someone else.

Anyone any idea? I never wanted an owl but somehow I felt so sorry for the baby owl.

Don't you need a licence to sell/keep owls?

Karen

Hi Karen,
I don't know about other breeds but you definately need one to keep or even release a Barn Owl. This man sounds really dodgy to me and could be selling them illegally. I know it's hard but don't buy one just because you feel sorry for them. That's how a lot of rogues make their money. They aren't easy to keep so make sure you know what you'd be in for!!
Look at this, it has links to a lot of people who could give you info...

http://www.barnowl.co.uk/owl/wowl/links.asp

I think licences are issued by DEFRA

Kath.

Edit: you could do a search on the DEFRA site for owls too

http://www.defra.gov.uk/

Hi Kath,

Thanks I thought so. I will look on the site and maybe contact them, I had visions of "stolen eggs/chicks" all day.

I might even contact someone if I can to report this. Or try and get an address from him if I can't get somewhere before Sat.

Something about me must scream out sometimes "SHE'S A SOFT TOUCH"

Karen

According to the Barn Owl trust you only need a licence to release a bird into the wild - and then a license is only normally granted if the bird is one which has been taken from the wild in the first place. Captive bred Barn Owls are as commercial as dogs or cats so long as the seller has a Article 10 Certificate from DEFRA and the bird has been ringed

Hi Digger.
Yes, my mistake,you're right, you don't need one for keeping barn owls, only releasing them.

Kath.

We did have a Barn Owl, a few years ago, a friends mum had a breeding pair. It was very hard work, just like having a baby at first, Bow slept with us in his box next to the bed and we took it in turns to feed him through the night. It did get easier and as he was raised in the house at first, the dogs and the cats all got used to him. My husband did all the training with him, but in the end even the boys and myself could fly him. He was quite comical at first as we would take him out with the dogs and he wouldn't fly, but he would runn along the ground behind the dogs trying to keep up.

But joking a side, you really do need to look into keeping one very carefully before going ahead.

Sadly we lost Bow last year, a fox got into his avairy, despite the concrete and wire dug into the ground.
Karen.

Gosh this makes me really MAD :( :(
For a start, there is a hell of a lot to keeping any bird of prey, whether an owl or a broad wing or a long wing. The least suitable is the owl. You should only have one if you have put a lot of thought, time, money etc into ensuring you know EXACTLY how to care for it, train, feed etc. You should have a suitable mews or aviary for it...this takes a lot of time/money/efort. you should buy from a source where they are PARENT reared because otherwise you will end up with a screaming imprint. I wouldnt touch this bloke with a barge pole & in fact I would be doing a lot of investigating as to where he lives, where his birds are sourced from and exactly what he is about.
I am very very angry! :(