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Never buy an animal on a whim just because you saw one in a movie. How many times do we have to say this?
It looks like at least once more. Harry Potter fans, or to be more precise, their parents, have broken our cardinal rule of movie fandom. As a result, an animal sanctuary has opened on the Isle of Wight in the U.K. to help cope with the problem of owls who have been dumped by people who purchased them without thinking.
In the books and movies, Harry’s snowy owl, Hedwig, is portrayed as low-maintenance, but many fans who purchased snowy owls for their kids are realizing that real owls require a lot of attention—and they’re abandoning the birds after the magic wears off.
The moral of this story is twofold. Companion animals shouldn’t be acquired on a whim, and birds of prey shouldn’t be preyed upon by film fanatics.
Written by Karin Bennett
