The AP ran a story on 1/6 about a great horned owl in
Greenville, Maine that had, "terrorized a senior citizens development
and killed a dog in front of its owner", and was, "the prime suspect in
the disappearance of several cats, and it had stripped the neighborhood
clean of squirrels and birds." Although the taking of cats is, IMHO,
desirable behavior, the alleged bird-killing behavior of this bird
makes me doubt the veracity of the game warden consulted for the article.

Although subject of much apocryphal musings, here is an
example, if we are to believe the story, of a GH Owl taking a FiFi
dog.

"The owl lifted the 20-pound poodle-Pekinese mix into the air
and out of sight..."

In addition this bird was alleged to "swoop" on people:
``When people tried to get out of their houses it would swoop down on
them,'' said Paul Fournier, spokesman for the Department of Inland Fisheries
and Wildlife. ``This was a senior citizens' housing development, and people
were afraid to leave their houses.''

The unfortunate conclusion of this episode is that wardens
killed the bird Thursday. This seems like pretty slim evidence to
execute this bird. If cats were left indoors and dogs on leashes this
may not have happened. I guess cats and dogs are more important
than wild birds.

========================

From: "Byron K. Butler" <BBUTLER at yalevm.ycc.yale.edu>
From: Byron K. Butler, Guilford, CT

Assuming the "facts" pertaining to the bird/cat/dog-killing owl somewhat
resemble the truth, it suggests to me that this may have been a sick bird;
i.e., may have had a tumor. I've heard stories of unusual aggressive
behavior in other species such as geese and moose (meese?) that were later
necropsied and found to have had brain tumors.

========================

From: Joe Morlan <jmorlan at SLIP.NET>

A similar case in the San Francisco Bay Area turned out to be a released
pet Great Horned Owl that had been raised as a chick. It was imprinted
on humans and the "attacks" were merely the owl attempting to land on
people's shoulders. The owl taking neighborhood cats and/or dogs is also
not too surprising.

Joe Morlan
Albany, CA

======================

From: Terence P Brashear <bras0005 at GOLD.TC.UMN.EDU>

On Mon, 9 Jan 1995, Fred G. Thurber wrote:
Stuff deleted
> ``When people tried to get out of their houses it would swoop down on
> them,'' said Paul Fournier, spokesman for the Department of Inland Fisheries
> and Wildlife. ``This was a senior citizens' housing development, and people
> were afraid to leave their houses.''
Stuff deleted
> Frederick Thurber fgt at cadre.com

Sounds like typical behavior exhibited by an owl that is imprinted on
people. It's too bad they shot the bird instead of capturing it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul"
(Emily Dickinson)
Terence P. Brashear
bras0005 at gold.tc.umn.edu
Minneapolis, MN

====================

From: "Fred G. Thurber" <fgt at CADRE.COM>
Subject: Eagle food - from the net

I found this while browsing the enemy camp:

>From tigrlily at rose.brandeis.edu (Amy Hasbrouck)
Newsgroups: rec.pets.cats
Subject: Missing cats in rural areas...the eagles have landed
Date: 6 Jan 1995 03:27:46 GMT

While visiting my sister who lives near the Quabbin reservation in
Western Massachusetts, she told me a rather sad -- though funny in a
tragic way -- story about local missing cats.

She said that rangers and naturalists have been watching eagles
introduced into the Quabbin reservation closely, and at the end of the
nexting season this year, climbed to the eagles' nests to check out what
they'd left behind... They found 17 cat flea collars.

The coyotes, who'd been taking the rap, were off the hook, and our
national bird earned a bad rep in that part of the world.

Also she said a hawk had been bothering their chickens. Beware!


--
-AH
Amy Hasbrouck a.k.a. Tigrlily at auriga.rose.brandeis.edu
"This house is full of my mess, This house is full of mistakes,
This house is full of madness, This house is full of fight." -Kate Bush