Dear Tweeters,

Another question generated by our New Mexico birding trip.
As we came home this evening at dusk, there was a VERY large
owl (a great horned?) perched on the telephone pole by the
alley at my mother's house in Truth or Consequences, NM.
The question is: could this (or a similar) owl be responsible
for the disappearance of her three cats? (which disappeared
over a period of a few months). The neighbors and the vet say
the owls are responsible, but there are also coyotes outside
of town here. Would it be likely that the owl is responsible?
Has anyone heard of owls eating pets? The birding handbook says
rodents and small vertebrates- is a cat a small vertebrate?

Thanks for the help with the mystery!

LeAnn Copas and Tom Moore
usually of Redmond, WA
tommoore1 at attmail.com