Telford mum has a hoot with an unexpected house guest
A Telford mum had an unexpected house guest last week when a barn owl decided to move into her Hollinswood home for two days.
Katie Lousie George said she was in her living room with her nine-month-old daughter last Wednesday, when she spotted the owl in her garden.
The 34-year-old writer said: "I was just feeding my daughter and the windows were open. I felt it was getting a bit nippy so thought I'd shut the window and there he was sat starring at me on the washing line pole.
"I didn't know anything about birds or owls, but I decided not to shut the window as I didn't want to scare it."
She said her daughter began to take an interest in the owl and the pair started playing peek-a-boo with it.
She added: "I then put daughter to bed and when I came back down it was still in same place, and then I noticed it had leather straps on the ankles, so I posted in the Telford Facebook group if it was someone's pet."
She said the post almost immediately "blew up" and was shared 450 times with all sorts of people offering help and advice to look after the bird, which had been identified as a barn owl.
"Somebody said he might be hungry and they told me to put a glove on and try to feed it," said Katie.
She she rummaged around the house to try to find something suitable.
"I could only find my washing up Marigolds so I put one on and tried to feed it," she said. "But I'm quite short and I couldn't reach him but just as I was returning inside, he decided he would like to come inside too so flew and landed on my shoulder.
"I couldn't believe how calm I was. It was actually quite magical and great for about five minutes but then I realised I had two dogs and a baby so he couldn't stay with me."
She said her house guest had hopped onto the sofa, and she was at a loss what to do.
"I had to go out, so I decided to shut the dogs away and leave the owl in my living room. Thankfully, by this time I got home my post had taken off and I had so many messages."
She said she was contacted by local owl expert Ian Thornton, who offered to temporarily rehome her house guest, which Katie had named Owly Murs after the pop singer.
"The problem was that Ian doesn't drive so I had to go and pick him up the next day. Thankfully, he has now found the owner.
"It was a magical couple of days. I had never even seen an owl before let alone befriend one."
The owner of the owl, Meredith Telisa, says Owly's real name is Hooty and he was an owlet that had escaped before he was delivered to his new home with brother Yo-yo in Liverpool.
