Police were involved with this owl who was a wild bird that was unlawfully tethered. Also badly tethered, as the picture reveals. Time out in the BOPH hospital with good food and all equipment removed allowed repair of sore and infected legs. Sadly release was not possible as inadequate feeding as a youngster had interfered with bone development in a wing. Wonky remains an ambassador of the hospital, with a comfortable life in captivity.
Clearly, as with everything else in the world, things can be done really well and really badly. The human species has spent its history building relationship with animals and birds, it is nothing new and has become a vital yet sometimes fragile pastime. Birds of prey however have been part of a historical journey where hunting in the form of Falconry was used for life sustaining food gathering, exploiting the natural instinct of the species. The historical journey is colourful and exciting, whereas todays falconry can be hobbyist and often carried out on a shoe string budget just for the love of it. Food is not hunted for anything but the gain of the bird and there is an understandable desire to question and regulate, or at least make accountable the vast range of ownership of owls, hawks and falcons throughout the UK. Falconers take many forms, buying and keeping birds of prey has little or no regulation and the breeding of hundreds of Barn Owl, amongst many other bird species goes on throughout the country. It is not just the breeders that come under scrutiny, albeit an A10 or article 10 has to be provided with legitimately bred birds sold to the public, a flimsy but necessary DEFRA licence to prove legitimacy of the bird coming from Breeding stock and not from the wild. I say flimsy because the resources required to inspect any or all of the captive birds would be significant.
Therefore, without upsetting any hard core Falconer, truth is that often bird fall into the wrong hands, where feeding and housing combine with lack of understanding, the result of which is never good for the birds. So many of the skills are instinctive and need to be felt to be understood, and for some there is no amount of training or mentoring that will make it the right decision to take on one of these special creatures.
LANTRA have endorsed and complied with a form of basic training that will qualify the trainee with reasonable though basic backup towards making the right steps to progress to do it properly. However (notice I did not say but) not every Falconer can be a teacher in the same way that not every teacher could comprehend falconry, humans we are, perfect we are not. Even though I felt very pleased and fulfilled to have earn’t my certificates, I know of others that cringe at the thought having had ‘poor’ teaching.
Captive birds are a thing we have to accept. For so many it is the only contact and viewing of such creatures they will ever have and for birds at risk, it may be the only pool of preserved species that remain on the planet, therefore a vital continuation in some circumstances.
We all must never forget, that these birds may only trust us, they do not have the emotional capability to love us, return our passion or be loyal in any shape or form, Birds are hard wired to survive, eat, live and be. That is the magic of the Birds Of Prey, they won’t love you back, they will tolerate you if you do not break their trust, they will form an acceptable relationship only if the human in charge is considered, sensitive, prepared and experienced. There are Falconer that I have worked with and experienced who hold total and utter god status for me, I am in love with their passion - However there are some who I literally detest for their ignorance and complete arrogant stupidity.