BY DENNIS LINAM
MARCH 6, 2015
Is there a connection between missing Chickasha pets and the Big (Great) Horned Owls?
Great Horned Owl
Dyanna Culp, a zoology major, believes the owls have been around locally before she actually saw the first ones. The owls mate, build nests and are primarily nocturnal, but do hunt during daylight hours.
About three weeks ago, around 7 AM, Sunday morning as Culp was getting ready for church and about to let her cat out, she noticed a giant shape in a tree across the alley from her backyard. The predator owl let out a screeching hooting calling to its mate. Seconds later another owl landed in close proximity. Deductively this means that they are a mated pair because owls do not coincide with each other unless they are mated. As it started to get brighter the owls both flew off towards the northeast.
A few days later, Culp was in the backyard with her cat and noticed that her cat was staying under the shrubbery and low hanging trees. As the days went on the cat became very nervous about going into the backyard and when left alone would come to the back door screaming to be let in. One day Culp went to the back door and was looking out the window and saw her cat cringing under a bench in the corner of her yard. As she looked up in the tree one of the owls was about five or 10 feet above the cat. Luckily, there was also a Mockingbird nest in the corner of the yard, which started attacking the owl; driving it away.
Culp believes this is just one of several near misses for her cat stating, “I think he has had some close calls and these owls have been messing with him or he would not fear a place that he has been comfortable in for over eight years.”
2015. Estimated flight and hunting path based on sightings.
There has been numerous sightings of the owls between the northern Creek close to Canadian Valley Vo-tech leading south to the ninth street I 44 overpass.
Several people who walk the Shannon Springs Park stated that they had seen the great horned owls and even one young lady from south of town stated one set on her mailbox for almost 4 hours. She said, “I have small dogs and one large dog, which is scary.”
Over the past several months the radio station has received lost pet announcements and the Chickasha animal control office states that they receive at least two or three calls a week on missing pets.
This is a realistic problem, which needs attention. Even if all the pets lost are not from the owls, our pets are part of our family. The importance is to keep an eye out for potential danger.
owlinstitute.org describes the great horned owl as a large, bulky owl with prominent ear tufts, white throat, gray beak, and bright yellow eyes. The young are orange-brown with white throat and a less pronounced ear tuft. Males are normally 20.0 inches tall. Females range up to 23.6 inches. Both weighing in between 2.9 and 3.3 pounds, with the wingspan between 52.7 to 56.2 inches. Their normal diet is predominantly small mammals such as hares, ground squirrels, and pets; also preying on birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and insects. The great horned owl nests in commonly abandoned nests of birds or squirrels, but also tree cavities, cactus, haylofts, manmade nest platforms, cliffs, and caves.
Since the great horned owl is a predator, but is also protected by government regulation it is important to gather as much information about the nesting area and possible sightings or abductions of pets within their hunting grounds.
If you know that your pet has been taken by one of these owls call the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
Main Office – Call (405) 521-3851
Mailing Address:
ODWC
PO BOX 53465
OKC, OK. 73152
For more on this topic:
Please tune in to The Ranch (FM106.1) Saturday morning, and KOOL 105.5 Sunday with George Plummer.
Audio can be found Sunday at http://www.classichits1055.com/podcasts/kool-converstation
Chickasha, Oklahoma News 