--- description: He lost the owl on Bonfire Night title: British Man Tries to Lure Pet Owl With Rat on a String image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # British Man Tries to Lure Pet Owl With Rat on a String by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 7:01 PM CUT by [Victor Luckerson](/author/victor-luckerson/) ## Victor Luckerson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 15, 2015 7:01 PM CUT A man in Peterborough, England spent hours Monday and Tuesday trying to lure his pet owl down from a roof by using a dead rat as bait. Mark Smith tied the rat to a string and threw it out onto the street as his owl, Bengal Benny, perched on top of a nearby building. Smith lost the owl on Bonfire Night, when she flew away during fireworks, but tracked the animal down using tips from a Facebook group. Smith hopes that Bengal Benny will eventually get hungry enough to swoop down and go for the dead rat. He told the Peterborough Telegraph he’s prepared to keep returning until he reclaims his pet. “I could be here for hours,” he said. \[[_Peterborough Telegraph_](http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/latest-news/video-peterborough-man-tries-to-get-pet-owl-off-roof-by-swinging-dead-rat-on-a-piece-of-string-1-7117323#ixzz3uPMluqBd "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4149868/owl-rat-string/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4149868/owl-rat-string/"},"headline":"British Man Tries to Lure Pet Owl With Rat on a String","datePublished":"2015-12-15T19:01:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:27:46.236Z","description":"The owl's name is Bengal Benny","url":"https://time.com/4149868/owl-rat-string/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Victor Luckerson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/victor-luckerson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4149868/owl-rat-string/","name":"British Man Tries to Lure Pet Owl With Rat on a String"}}]}] ```