Snowy Owl

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ladysown

ladysown

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So I had a call this morning from a lady looking for live prey for a snowy owl that she is working with.

Apparently she's tried using previously killed prey and the owl is refusing it. Needs to see the prey move before he'll accept it.

I DO NOT know why she has this owl and I won't ask questions about it.

My question is
1. I'm a bit squeamish about sending rabbits off to be hunted by this bird.. are they fast in the kill?
2. Would mice work better perhaps? I don't have an issue with the mice going for such a purpose but the rabbits make me squeamish.
3. I do have a kit here.. less than 1/2 pound in weight who broke his leg who might be an ideal candidate for this bird as he's a weak kit so the kill would be very fast but I don't know what size of animals these birds eat.

Can anyone advise me?

thanks.
 
I don't know about birds, I have a wolfdog that I give chicken and rabbit culls to (provided it isn't because of a communicable disease of course). He is perfectly friendly to healthy animals but, knows a sick or injured one on the ground is his dinner. He's prett efficient, sometimes one squeal before he dispatches a larger rabbit, but he always has it done by the time I walk 100 yards to the house and back out to his run.

I wouldn't give or sell perfectly fit and healthy kits for the owl, that seems a waste of meat that could feed a human in a few weeks but, culls that have to go, sure. I'd sell ehr those and, not think twice since I wouldn't be there to see the bird get the rabbit anyway.
 
Ummm.... I see two possibilities neither of them good :(

- this person found a sick owl and is trying to re-hab it.
A)They really need to get into the proper hands - I doubt they are qualified as it's nearly impossible to get a re-hab license for a birds of prey and you're in the London area so there are SEVERAL raptor fascilities within a couple hours drive and no reason good reason not to hand it over
B) if it really will only eat live food then they just have to attach a coat hanger or long string to the dead animal (depending on enclosure size) and mimic movement as owls are pretty dumb but notoriously hard to re-hab since they shut down and play possum in captivity - go to A)

- they have a healthy owl hanging around and want to watch (or video) it hunting. Not good for the prey as it will likely escape the yard and starve since owls only have a 20% success rate at the best of times and, of course, there is no guarantee it will hunt "on cue".

Just my 2 cents
 

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