Zookeeper Gabe’s Animal Thread Vol 9.0

So I wanted to share what happened to me on Sunday afternoon. I was feeding my owls (at my second job) and our new female great horned owl decided to launch into my face. I took 4 talons to the right side(one went up my nostril) of my face and two to the left. I was literally an inch away from losing an eye, this bird hasn’t ever shown any aggression towards us and may have been a fluke.
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that mark by your eye... holy shit that was close
 
Bruh, you know me. I was just keepin it real, unfortunately she kept it realer.

I remember reading a book on owls years ago with a passage that stood out:

"Any creature that walks, crawls, flies, or swims is the Great Horned Owl's natural prey."

Used to live in a place up in the hills in LA county with a very arid high desert sort of climate.

We had fuckin yuge Great Horned Owls. Small and medium size dogs would go missing all the time from peoples yards. Most folks would blame coyotes, but more often it was the owls. They'd grab a dog from a yard in the middle of the afternoon, drop it down the mountain on the road or a rock then circle back for the body.

One neighbor had a daschund who narrowly avoided dying one day and was terrified of the sky for the rest of his life after that. The dog was playing in the yard at like 4 pm, 3-4 yards away from the owner who is on the porch. All of a sudden the daschund explodes into a sprint, diving under the porch.

1/4 a second after the dog started moving, the owl smashes into the ground talons first at the spot the dog was standing.
 
So I wanted to share what happened to me on Sunday afternoon. I was feeding my owls (at my second job) and our new female great horned owl decided to launch into my face. I took 4 talons to the right side(one went up my nostril) of my face and two to the left. I was literally an inch away from losing an eye, this bird hasn’t ever shown any aggression towards us and may have been a fluke.
Q3HqTQu.jpg

MMIcZO9.jpg

g58vx0U.png

Holy shit dude, glad you’re ok.
How does this incident affect handling protocols for the offending owl?
 
Holy shit dude, glad you’re ok.
How does this incident affect handling protocols for the offending owl?
We will be getting safety glasses, I will also only go in with gauntlet gloves on. If it gets bad, I have my chainsaw helmet. Hopefully it’s just a one off incident
 
We will be getting safety glasses, I will also only go in with gauntlet gloves on. If it gets bad, I have my chainsaw helmet. Hopefully it’s just a one off incident

With our cat, it caught me of guard because he wasn’t generally unpredictable…I started to think about it and thought maybe he wasn’t feeling well. I took him to the vet for a checkup, turns out he had a couple of bad teeth, we had that taken care of, and it never happened again…Not sure if that was the cause of the attack, but I think it was…
Could the Owl not feel well? Could that cause him to act up?
 
With our cat, it caught me of guard because he wasn’t generally unpredictable…I started to think about it and thought maybe he wasn’t feeling well. I took him to the vet for a checkup, turns out he had a couple of bad teeth, we had that taken care of, and it never happened again…Not sure if that was the cause of the attack, but I think it was…
Could the Owl not feel well? Could that cause him to act up?
I think she was guarding food, it happened as I was putting her food on her platform and I think I lingered there too long. My boss was going to weigh her and make sure she hasn’t drastically lost weight. It’s also our first year with her and she may be getting hormonal.
 
So I wanted to share what happened to me on Sunday afternoon. I was feeding my owls (at my second job) and our new female great horned owl decided to launch into my face. I took 4 talons to the right side(one went up my nostril) of my face and two to the left. I was literally an inch away from losing an eye, this bird hasn’t ever shown any aggression towards us and may have been a fluke.
Q3HqTQu.jpg

MMIcZO9.jpg

g58vx0U.png
I 'liked' this post like many others did but somehow I am not sure that is the right reply???

Anyway glad you are OK. Hope you backed that owl off with a sherdog flex while donating your blood to the Just Bleed god.
 
I wondered what type of omens different cultures would have for a fucking owl attacking my face. I cracked up every time they showed an owl on Rez Dogs and they blurred its eyes out.
No wonder you hate parrots, my guy when his nails , beak grow out is dangerous ! Can easily slice a finger ,lip, ear even if he doesn’t mean to. Birds are so love or hate and moody Also but dam smart little brains.
 
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