Animals: Ferocious Owls

Last year Albert Moore Reese, zoologist at West Virginia State University, stopped thinking so much about alligators, on which he is an authority, and turned his attention to owls. His interest began when citizens of Morgantown, W. Va. complained about being attacked by owls. Dr. Reese inquired hither & yon, asked people who had had owl encounters to tell him all about their experiences. From all over the U. S. came letters. Last fortnight he published some of his data in Science (weekly).

Most of the attacks were made at dusk or on moonlight nights. Several correspondents wrote that the birds had swooped close to their heads, had only snapped their beaks before darting away. The majority of victims, however, had actually been struck with beak or claws. Frequently the skin was painfully lacerated. One correspondent wrote that he knew a lumberjack who had suffered from a clawed neck for several months. In Louisiana, a Negro complained that an owl had gouged his eye out. The birds in one U. S. town developed a peculiar antipathy for policemen, made frequent passes at their blue-capped heads.

Varied were the reasons advanced. Many people noted a nest in the neighborhood, agreed that the attacking owl probably was protecting fledglings. Others suggested that owls may mistake the hairy human head for a fat, slow-moving rat.