WHOOO Does This!? Stolen Baby Barn Owls Found In A Bucket
Seven baby barn owls stolen from their nest in a old rocket-testing bunker in the Santa Ana River wash have been returned to their mother after being found in a bucket in the back of a car during a routine traffic stop on Monday, reports the SB Sun.
San Bernardino sheriff's notified the Department of Fish and Game, and Lenore Wills, an animal rehabilitation specialist from Yucaipa, was called in to help return the babies to their nest where the man said he'd found them.
Said Wills,"One of the biggest myths is that parent birds won't take the babies after they've been handled and that's not true," she said. "Almost always, if they blow out of the nest, you can take them back and they'll be fine," notes the SB Sun. Wills was reportedly shooed by the mother, a good sign or re-integration, when she visited Tuesday to check on the situation.
The driver of the vehicle was not taken into custody, according to police. Fish and Game officials will conduct an investigation. Wills said the man intended to sell the owls to a pet shop. She reportedly informed him that they are illegal to possess, and "that all but two California birds - the English sparrow and the starling - are protected by federal laws," notes the SB Sun.