Hi Karen! No this guy was hand reared at the owl centre. He's quite happy and takes place in displays etc. Its actually illegal to release any hand reared owl jn the uk as they are imprinted on humans and all individually licensed. We do get an awful lot of owls in who have been bought as novelty pets then discarded into the wild - unfortunately because they have no experience of wild living many of them simply don't hunt and just sit on a branch and wait to be fed. These guys are often v.undernourished and highly stressed its such shame. Similarly we cannot keep a wild owl captive after it has been rehabilitated - it needs to be released back where if came from :)
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Hi Karen! No this guy was hand reared at the owl centre. He's quite happy and takes place in displays etc. Its actually illegal to release any hand reared owl jn the uk as they are imprinted on humans and all individually licensed. We do get an awful lot of owls in who have been bought as novelty pets then discarded into the wild - unfortunately because they have no experience of wild living many of them simply don't hunt and just sit on a branch and wait to be fed. These guys are often v.undernourished and highly stressed its such shame. Similarly we cannot keep a wild owl captive after it has been rehabilitated - it needs to be released back where if came from :)
How lovely Ann!
Will this owl ever be released into the wild?