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Giant owls are eating resident's pets


Still Waters

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Residents in the foothills of the US city of Albuquerque have claimed that giant owls have moved into the area and are snacking on their small cats and dogs.

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It's an owl. It's hungry. What do you expect? Keep your smaller pets inside at night and they should be fine.

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This is nature at work, an owl cannot guess the difference between a pet and a wild life creature, all she sees is food.

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Ah, the circle of poo...er, um, pellets in the case of owls. We live in the southwest and every few years or so, depending on the weather and the small wild prey population our community comes up very short of barn cats and chihuahuas. Mostly from owl predation but I have seen juvenile hawks attempting to take equally young cats as well. (or maybe just messing around)

Its kind of funny to watch the hawk calculating the weight to lift ratio. In the cases I have witnessed the hawks pull up at the very last second. The cat is usually left standing there wondering "what was that?" and "what are you looking at?" I had this happen one time when I was only a few feet from the cat.

Nature is beautiful, but sometimes not so pretty. So keep your furry little darlings inside at night and don't let them play outside alone.

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Just have a Malamute dog and you won't have this problem anymore! HA!

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Owls attacking dogs and cats is NOT normal.

If the owls keep on doing this then clearly something needs to be done. They need to be shot.

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Owls attacking dogs and cats is NOT normal.

If the owls keep on doing this then clearly something needs to be done. They need to be shot.

Whoa, calm down there Mr '"Owls attacking dogs and cats is NOT normal" and should be shot'.

Q: What do Owls eat?

A: Generally, Owls eat rodents, small mammals, and/or insects. Some species specialise in other food, such as fish. For more details, see our Owl Physiology: Food & Hunting section.

Ref:http://www.owlpages.com/index.php?file=faq

Keep down the hunter in you, we have created enough problems in this world by being selfish and thinking that this world revolves around us human beings. There are animals too and we cannot just get rid of them because you cannot keep your pets indoors. It is not that surprising in nature to see animals eating other animals, in fact is known as the food chain.

To think that shooting them would solve the problem is not understanding how ecology works and how our uneducated solutions will effect future generations and other animals above on the food chain or those that are in symbiotic relationships with owls and other creatures affected as a result. We cannot just go around shooting down animals that are not even doing anything unnatural.

tl;dr Just no.

Edited by Blue Lizard
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Giant Owls? You know what this means, don't you. It's our old friends the Illuminati again. They're notorious for it. :unsure2:

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A Cat is lucky if he makes it through my property alive. The Owl out there has killed at least 10+ cats so far(none were mine, mostly the neighbors or wild ones). I don't know about dogs though lol.

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The images attached to this piece are of a Barn owl which preys exclusively on small rodents. It is neither large nor powerful enough to kill a cat or dog. However, the Great Horned Owl is indigenous to New Mexico, and is capable of killing a cat or very small dog. These owls are very territorial and won't hesitate to dive on any animal that is threatening it's territory or nest site.

The woman's reference to the owl as "he" is a bit of a misnomer. In the world of raptors, the females are almost always the larger and more aggressive birds.

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i actually saved the neighbor cat/kitten from a sharp shined shrike a few months ago. Stupid cat though he was getting a snack. the bird felt the same way. Red tail hawks hunt around my house as well.

Luckily my dogs are big, they get birds themselves oddly its the hugely fat lab mix that seems to get them. I think they see him as a table and don't realize the danger

Edited by travelnjones
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I have known an eagle to swoop on a young cat (didn't get it) it also took a lamb, had to shoot it, poor eagle, I guess owls are on the lookout for food as well

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Owls attacking dogs and cats is NOT normal.

If the owls keep on doing this then clearly something needs to be done. They need to be shot.

Woah, hold your horses Mr Bloodfest. We are in no place to stop nature from doing its course. The poor birds are just starving as we pretty much build over their entire habitats with concrete and steel.

If anything, we should keep our dearest pets in check, keep them inside at night.

Not go on a blood frenzy. Geez. With people like you the entire planet's species are going extinct.

I always put the puppy in the microwave for a few minutes, owls loves a good hotdog.

This forum is losing from all sides isn't it.

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I have a pair of Powerful Owls here living off bats, gliders and the occational brushtailed possum (world's largest owl - rare and endangered). It's been interesting to hear of owls taking cats and the like. No cat or small dog is safe in the forest here where the ecosystem is in tact.

I'm all for the free animals feasting on the ferals/introduced species. We regularly have sea-eagles taking s#*^zus off the beaches - freaks tourists to see their fluffy white pets hoisted up and away then dropped onto the rocks and retrieved to feed the raptor chicks. Terriers - taste like chicken ^_^

Powerful Owl with brushtail dinner:

powlpr1.jpg

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Whoa, calm down there Mr '"Owls attacking dogs and cats is NOT normal" and should be shot'.

Okay, then. Let's do nothing and let the bleeders eat people's pets. Yeah, that's it.

Edited by Blackwhite
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Woah, hold your horses Mr Bloodfest. We are in no place to stop nature from doing its course.

If animals are eating people's pets then a course of action needs to be undertaken to ensure it doesn't continue happening.

The poor birds are just starving as we pretty much build over their entire habitats with concrete and steel.

I have no issue with them hunting wild animals. I have an issue with the fact that members of the public are losing their cats and dogs to a wild animal. That needs to be stopped.

I also wouldn't say the birds are starving. They'll have no difficulty finding wildlife to hunt.

If anything, we should keep our dearest pets in check, keep them inside at night.

What? Keeps cats - a nocturnal species - inside every night? You have got to be joking.

Geez. With people like you the entire planet's species are going extinct.

With people like you cats and dogs are endanger of going extinct.

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Owls eats cats(dogs). Cats eats birds. Survival of Nature. I agree keep your cats indoors/tethered/watch your dogs. Nobody knows what is out there. :yes:

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If animals are eating people's pets then a course of action needs to be undertaken to ensure it doesn't continue happening.

Yes, a course of action like keeping pets indoors.

What? Keeps cats - a nocturnal species - inside every night? You have got to be joking.

Killing owls because they're carrying off irresponsible owners pets is far more of a joke.

With people like you cats and dogs are endanger of going extinct.

I won't even bother with this.

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Owls eats cats(dogs). Cats eats birds. Survival of Nature. I agree keep your cats indoors/tethered/watch your dogs. Nobody knows what is out there. :yes:

Why should owls be allowed to eat our pets?

I don't let my cat eat a wild bird so I don't want a wild bird to eat my cat.

It is not right to keep cats inside permanently. They need to get out from time to time to get some fresh air and exercise. Keeping them in permanently is not right. Cats are also nocturnal and most want to be let out at night.

Most domestic cats also wear collars with bells on them to warn birds and other prey that they are around. So most domestic cats find it very difficult to catch birds and other prey. So that is one thing we have done to ensure that cats cannot catch birds and other wild animals. So now we have to do the opposite: stop wild animals attacking our pet cats.

It is not right that people should keep a nocturnal outdoors animal like a cat inside all night every night just because some owls are preying on cats. Something needs to be done to get rid of these owls and let the cats go out into their own neighbourhood whenever they feel like it without worrying that some bird is going to swoop down and carry them away.

If we can't somehow capture the owls alive and take them somewhere far away from people's pets then the only other option is to shoot them.

It's pure and simple common sense.

Edited by Blackwhite
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Why should owls be allowed to eat our pets?

I don't let my cat eat a wild bird so I don't want a wild bird to eat my cat.

It is not right to keep cats inside permanently. They need to get out from time to time to get some fresh air and exercise. Keeping them in permanently is not right. Cats are also nocturnal and most want to be let out at night.

Most domestic cats also wear collars with bells on them to warn birds and other prey that they are around so that the bird cannot catch the dog. So most domestic cats find it very difficult to catch birds and other prey. So that is one thing we have done to ensure that cats cannot catch birds and other wild animals. So now we have to do the opposite: stop wild animals attacking our pet cats.

It is not right that people should keep a nocturnal outdoors animal like a cat inside all night every night just because some owls are preying on cats. Something needs to be done to get rid of these owls and let the kids go out into their own neighbourhood whenever they feel like it without worrying that some bird is going to swoop down and carry them away.

If we can't somehow capture the owls alive and take them somewhere far away from people's pets then the only other option is to shoot them.

It's pure and simple common sense.

So you suggest that because we've domesticated one species of animal, we should shoot wild animals that prey on them.

Your common sense worries me.

Would it not be more sensible to know the risks and not buy cats if they're in danger in the area. Or to ensure that you take necessary precautions that your cat/dog isn't carried off by an owl.

Personally if I knew that owls were in the area killing pets, I wouldn't let my dogs out at night alone. That seems like pure and simple common sense to me.

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Wild owls do stuff like this all the time... people have become domesticated and are horrified at "rediscovering" nature isn't a vegetarian, lol.

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