On Thu, 21 Dec 1995, Tom Moore wrote:

> Dear Tweeters,
>
[snip..snip]

> The question is: could this (or a similar) owl be responsible
> for the disappearance of her three cats?

greetings--

A few years ago, Don McKenzie, who taught Biology, among other things
at Lewis & Clark College told my good friend that +/- 50 yds. outside
his office window in an enmormous fir tree there was a large nest
used every year by a pair of GHO's..he related that during the
nesting season, one or the other of the adults would bring in
a cat about once a week..

Given the fact that a hawk can only lift about 1/2 it's weight
those must have been small cats..(I really know nothing about the
lifting/carrying capacity of a GHO and my Owls of the World, by
Burton doesn't reference this info)..and, if the cats were similar
to the one my next door neighbor trapped a while back, it's a distinct
possibility..(he trapped a small, dirty, matted, spitting and
very unpleasant little emaciated feral male, who had put his
kitty in hospital twice..)

I did hear another tale..unsubstantiated..about a GHO that made a
pass on a cat sitting on the family porch with the family...

A possible scenario might be that a GHO killed the cats and the
coyotes carried off what the owl didn't eat..

Tom