Tina Gaboury and her boyfriend were asked to look after their neighbor’s house while they were away. One weekend when she went to check in on the house, she immediately saw signs of a break-in. “Everything was in disarray, pictures off the wall, vases knocked over lamps knocked over,” she told the Oak Bay News. But noticing what looked like bird poop everywhere, she spotted the burglar, perched up on a cabinet. It was a barred owl, giving a little knowing wink to the camera. Opening all the doors and windows didn’t coax the intruder to leave, but luckily Gaboury’s brother-in-law is a wildlife enthusiast. He came over with gloves and tucked a towel over the owl’s head and gently took it outside.
And apparently, this wasn’t the first break-and-enter for this owl, who was caught red-clawed four days earlier in the same neighborhood… At 4 am, police were called to a home about a possible intruder. They found a barred out, chilling on top of a couch, again giving its signature wink. The cops were able to convince the intruder to leave without incident, with it casually walking out open patio doors.
At 4am OBPD officers responded to an intruder at a home on Beach Dr. Officers arrived on scene & located the suspect perched on a couch. After somer coaxing the intruder casually walked outside through open patio doors & flew away. No animals or officers were injured. pic.twitter.com/YBjBxqitgn
— Oak Bay Police (@OakBayPolice) November 11, 2022
People involved were initially worried the owl had possibly injured its eye said it appeared to just be blinking. Also if you were worried the owl maybe was just desperate for a snack and couldn’t get into the fridge, another neighbor reported seeing the owl having a rodent for dinner the next day.
For another sky-cat story, check out Zeus the blind owl with stars in his eyes.