Awesome stuff…
Police have warned people not to approach a dangerous giant owl that could be hungry enough to attack and eat domestic pets.
The European eagle owl, which has a 2m (6ft) wingspan and is 1m tall, escaped from an enclosure in its owner’s back garden at Lower Stratton, near Swindon, Wiltshire, on Sunday
A Wiltshire Police spokeswoman said: “The owner went into the enclosure and the owl flew at him. He ducked and the bird flew out.”
“As it has been bred in captivity, the owl is unlikely to attack humans, but it could try to carry off a cat or small dog. If anyone spots the owl they should contact police and we will send an appropriate team with the right sort of equipment to catch it.”
Might I be so bold as to suggest…
My cats are confined to barracks until further notice.
AJ
UPDATE: Found this fantastic pic on Google: http://bit.ly/c7scmE
![European%20Eagle%20Owl%20med-res[1]](https://aljahom.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/european20eagle20owl20medres1.jpg "European%20Eagle%20Owl%20med-res[1]")
Click to enlarge.
Al Jahom's Final Word 
I don’t know. A cat or dog both have mouths full of sharp teeth and claws in their paws. Bunny rabbits, rats, mice, lambs and dead animals don’t.
Owls are not stupid as this one has shown. Your cats are as safe as houses, in my humble…
indeed – mere rhetoric – this bird would need jet propulsion to take off with either of my cats.. lol
And the chances of confining them are nil.
Fake cat/rabbit/whatever nailed to fence, coat hanger bent along fake animule’s back, booster cables, truck battery, popcorn. Aside from a plausible excuse to give the RSPB for a fried owl in your garden, job done.
Veering slightly O/T (but not far) – mad pic here: http://bit.ly/c9204W
Insect/bird. No contest. These fuckers are evil bastards!
I can haz grant for DNA research on breeding 3 foot mantis?
There’s only one police team equipped for this sort of thing. It has to be the Flying Squad…
A few years ago I was walking the dog at dusk in rural-ish SW Cambs and a very large owl took off from a field as we approached. There’s no way it was a Tawny: this bird was bigger than a heron. I assume it was an Eagle Owl, most likely hunting the numerous rabbits there.
Haven’t seen it since, fortunately. Thank God they’re not native and the escapees aren’t numerous. I was scared for the dog. Fox hunters have controversially (what else?)used them to get round the ban, so they have at least the potential to kill quite large predators. I wonder if they are one of the owls that will even go for a human if it approaches the nest. Even an Eagle Owl wouldn’t stand much chance of winning that one, but the human would hardly walk away unscathed, especially if they go for the head/eyes (something Tawnies are notorious for).
An eagle owl is highly unlikely to go for a cat or dog – small rodents more likely. Silly scaremongering from the press as usual.
As Dave H notes, they have been known to take quite large prey – up to and including roe deer fawns.
But we have a surfeit of rabbits in this country, so unless – being a trained bird – it sticks close to urban environments, it won’t need to snack on Fluffie or Rover.
Sad tedious plonker that I am, I’ve just looked them up. They ARE a risk to cats, small deer and foxes, if they take them by surprise. They don’t have to ‘carry off’ your cats even if they’re big: they eat larger prey on the ground, during which time they are vulnerable to mammalian predators, including foxes (seeking revenge, presumably).
You’ll just have to teach your cats (ho ho, fat chance) to check behind them (by concidence, both owls and cats are naturally good at this, as was Regan in the Exorcist).
Yawn.