--- title: This Little Owl Faced Off With a Sheriff's Deputy and Totally Won description: A Colorado sheriff's deputy messed with the wrong bird canonical: https://time.com/3972205/owl-vs-sheriff/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-25T14:30:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:43.604Z og:title: A Little Owl Faced Off With a Sheriff's Deputy and Totally Won og:description: The tiny bird decided it was above the game og:url: https://time.com/3972205/owl-vs-sheriff/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfe7ce92c11078ac/69885c76a988cac0f36b39d4/owl-police-boulder-county.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3287 og:image:height: 1849 og:image:alt: Wide eyed Owl og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Little Owl Faced Off With a Sheriff's Deputy and Totally Won twitter:description: The tiny bird decided it was above the game twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdfe7ce92c11078ac/69885c76a988cac0f36b39d4/owl-police-boulder-county.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Little Owl Faced Off With a Sheriff's Deputy and Totally Won > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d50455a5-b503-4b67-b289-a108793768f5&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Inside New York's First Cat Cafe [Watch (HLS stream): Inside New York's First Cat Cafe](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0MiiFeak.m3u8) (1:49)  _Published 2014-12-12. Meet the cats of NYC's first cat cafe, Meow Parlour, and hear more about the growing trend of paying to play with cats from the cafe's two owners._ by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 25, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  In this July 21, 2015 photo, provided by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Sophie Berman crouches over a small owl, making a brief video before the bird flew away, near Rainbow Lakes, outside Nederland, Colo. In this July 21, 2015 photo, provided by the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office, Deputy Sophie Berman crouches over a small owl, making a brief video before the bird flew away, near Rainbow Lakes, outside Nederland, Colo. Dan Walter—AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jul 25, 2015 2:30 PM UTC This tiny owl may be cute, but don’t let it fool you: it has more [sass](http://wishtv.com/2015/07/25/owl-with-an-attitude-wins-face-off-with-deputy/) in its little talon than a Colorado sheriff’s deputy. Boulder County Sheriff’’s Deputy Sophie Berman came across a wee owl in her patrols on Tuesday and got into a staring contest with the bird while filming it, the Associated Press reports. Her feathered foe stood unwavering for several minutes, making clicking sounds in response to Berman’s words. Finally, the owl decided it was above the game and turned its back on Berman and flew away. \[[AP](http://wishtv.com/2015/07/25/owl-with-an-attitude-wins-face-off-with-deputy/)\] ### Celebrate Mother’s Day With These Photos of Adorable Baby Animals and Their Moms  A six month old female baby koala sits on her mother's head on January 22, 2014 at the zoo in Duisburg, Germany. Roland Weihrauch—AFP/Getty Images  A baby and mother Snow Leopard, at Brookfield Zoo in Brookfield, Illinois on Nov. 14, 2013. Raymond Boyd—Getty Images  A gray langur mother named Sally holds her baby in its enclosure in Berlin's Zoo on February 21, 2014 in Berlin. Johannes Eisele—AFP/Getty Images  A newborn sea lion and its mother are seen at Marineland in Nice, France on July 17, 2013. Valery Hache—AFP/Getty Images  Giant panda cub, Bao Bao, right, interacts with her mother, Mei Xiang, left, at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park on Tuesday January 07, 2014 in Washington, DC. Matt McClain—The Washington Post/Getty Images  A newborn Hartmann's Mountain zebra with his mother in the Zoo of the Parc de la Tete d'Or in Lyon. France on October 31, 2013. Alexander Roth-Grisard—Getty Images  Three six-month old Indian white tiger cubs are pictured with their mother Sameera, right, at their enclosure at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, India on March 29, 2014. Noah Seelam—AFP/Getty Images  Recently hatched cygnets sit with their mother in a nest at Abbotsbury Swannery on May 23, 2013 near Weymouth, England. Matt Cardy—Getty Images  Twin polar bear cubs stand with their mother Giovanna in their enclosure at Tierpark Hellabrunn in Munich, March 19, 2014. Michael Dalder—Reuters  A white donkey foal walks with his mother Anuschka in his enclosure at the West Coast park in St. Peter-Ording, Germany on September 09, 2012. Wolfgang Runge—AFP/GettyImages  A mother giraffe licks her 20-day old calf at the Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata, India on June 10, 2013. Dibyangshu Sarkar—AFP/Getty Images  Baby ring-tailed lemurs cling onto their mother at the Japan Monkey Centre on April 19, 2014 in Inuyama, Aichi, Japan. The Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images  A Java mouse-deer cub, one of the world's smallest hoofed animals, and its mother at the Fuengirola Biopark, near Malaga, Spain on April 25, 2014. Jorge Guerrero—AFP/Getty Images  Lalana, a newborn Asian elephant calf nurses from her mother at the Safari zoo in Ramat Gan, Israel on October 13, 2013. Uriel Sinai—Getty Images  A two week-old Eastern Bongo calf stands beside her mother at Sydney's Taronga Zoo on April 13, 2012. William West—AFP/Getty Images  One month-old baby mandrill Aron clings to his mother Sandra in their cage at Berlin's Zoologischer Garten zoo on September 28, 2012. John Macdougall—AFP/Getty Images  A 9-day old hippo tries to walk helped by its mother at the Chapultepec Zoo, in Mexico City, on March 5, 2014. Ronaldo Schemidt—AFP/Getty Images  A newly born spotted hyena baby is cleaned by its mother at the Animal Garden in Szeged, Hungary on March 17, 2014. Csaba Segesvari—AFP/Getty Images  A baby Gibbon and its mother at the Doue La-Fontaine zoo in France on October 26, 2012. Alain Jocard—AFP/Getty Images  Spectacled bear mother Cashu stands next to one of her babies on April 17, 2014 at the zoo in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Boris Roessler—AFP/Getty Images ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] I'm Christina Ha. And I'm one of the founders of Meow Parlour. And I'm Emilie Legrand and I'm one of the founders of Meow Parlour. I had visited cat cafes in France and in Japan before. And so, because we both love cats. And we were sad we couldn't get to a cat cafe in New York, so if you're sad you just build it. [ LAUGH ] We partnered with a rescue group called kitty kind they're based out of the union square pet co. They're a non profit all volunteer no kill shelter [ MUSIC ] Kitty Kind handles all of our adoptions for us. So they're the ones who know the cats best and understand their personalities. Through the exposure we really hope they get adopted. And if it urns out for some reason they don't like you know, other cats. They don't like people. Then, we're already home, then, into the proper situation. For the moment, we have seven cats, and we're planning on having a dozen cats. Gillian, Sqwinkles, Spot, Liza, Luck Eleven, Kirsten and Marley. Marley. We're cat ladies. [ LAUGH ] Yeah. I mean we love cats and. I've had cats all my life so I'm really trying to make sure they are really comfortable here. Our residential super cat lady. [ LAUGH ] So we have these cats that have like really different quirks to them. And they're all very, very unique and super individual and I think it's so interesting to get to. Interact with them and get to know them better. 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