Hi Lydia and Tweets,

I believe I may have posted this story previously, but since there are new people on the list and Lydia asked...yes, Great Horned Owls definitely prey on household pets. Here is a case in point story.

One of my raft trip buddies lives in Beaverton, OR west of Portland. Some years ago they had a new 'yip-yap' puppy - a Lhasa Apso, or one of those small wannabe dogs (sorry, my bias toward big dogs is showing). This dog's name was Teddy. The evening ritual was for Teddy to be let out onto the back deck before bedtime, and he would then run down the deck steps to the back yard, do his business, and run back in. One night they let him outside and very shortly thereafter they heard horrible yelping from Teddy. My friend Dave ran out onto the deck and Teddy dropped out of the sky, landing on the deck with a thump and he virtually flew back inside. Teddy had talon wounds on his back, and a number of neighbors reported seeing one or more Great Horned Owls around. Apparently Dave got outside quickly enough to startle the owl and/or Teddy was able to struggle enough that the owl dropped him before it gained too much altitude. Teddy recovered with vet treatment, but it was at!
least
a month until he would venture outside unaccompanied...! Since this episode occurred well after dark when eagles would have been out of the question (and at that time they had no eagles in the area anyway) it had to have been a Great Horned Owl.

Eagles, of course, can easily take cats and small dogs if they are so inclined. (Matt Mega of Seattle Audubon made a post not that long ago about a call Audubon received from a property owner who had a long-established eagle nest fall out of a tree. In the nest were found a substantial number of cat collars.)

John Tubbs
Snoqualmie, WA
johntubbs at comcast.net


-------------- Original message --------------
From: Lydia Bishop <gizacat at mac.com>

> Hello Tweeties!
>
> Thanks to Ian for directing me to the Slater Museum on-line bird wing
> guide. The feathers match the pheasant and turkey quite well. Since
> we do have a gang of wild turkey in the area, my guess would be Wild
> Turkey.
>
> As to the owl part of my original post, how common are Great Horned
> Owls in the area just outside of Snohomish? Do the Great Horned Owls
> prey on household pets? An inside only cat managed to pop a screen
> and got out about a week ago and has not been seen since. I know
> coyotes prey on house cats, but what about GH owls?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Lydia Bishop
> Near Snohomish, WA
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