Wildlife centre offers reward to catch thugs who tortured owl
A reward has been offered by a Selby area wildlife organisation in a bid to bring to justice a group callous youths who strung up an owl from a tree in a Sherburn playground.
Sherburn and South Milford
The bird – a Little Owl – was taken in by the Selby Wildlife Rescue Centre last night after a young mum, playing with her son in Eversley Park confronted the youths.
The woman says she saw the group, aged around 16 years, congregated around a tree. On further investigation she found that the owl had been strung up between two branches.
The tiny bird was dangling from the tree by one wing that had blue twine wrapped around it. In the strong breeze, the owl had twirled around and the twine had tightened around his wing, cutting into his flesh.
The lady took the owl to Holmfield Vets in Sherburn where vets removed the twine, albeit with great difficulty.
Annette Pyrah of the Selby Wildlife Rescue Centre said, “The twine has damaged the owl's flight feathers and cut deep into the flesh. At the moment it is doubtful whether the poor owl will survive.
“I am offering a £100 reward and someone on Facebook has put up another £50 so the reward now for information is £150.00 to find the culprits.”
The incident has been reported to North Yorkshire Police. Anyone with information regarding the incident should contact them on 101 quoting reference 16082013 0460 NYP.