We continue to be surprised by the people who simply will not listen to our thoughtful and calm warnings about the Animal Uprising™. Some people think animals are "cute" and don't see the danger they present. So it is today we read of a woman who has let the enemy into her own house. Poor thing, she has no idea what she is in for.
EUGENE, Ore. – Saws buzz and carpenters hammer nails, set up ladders and run an air generator. Al doesn't give a hoot. The brownish Western screech-owl showed up at Laura Fenimore's house as she began adding what will be her new great room.
"I thought the construction noise, the dog or the power tools would scare him off, but the next day he comes right back," said Fenimore, 50, a lawyer who works from home.
But it seems Al is handy to have around. He doesn't make a mess, he isn't noisy and he helps with rodent control.
When she moved into her house in 2000, Fenimore spent a couple of years battling mice, and hired exterminators who shooed them into burrows in her backyard.
But now the yard has been completely uprooted for the remodel.
"This is like feast time for Mr. Owl," Fenimore said. "I sure hope he stays."
The bird, which is full-grown and about eight inches high, seems well-fed as he rests with his feathers puffed among the plywood beams.
Longtime readers know that this is a bad sign. When they look like they are making themselves at home, they are planning to take over. We have incoherent information about that owl. He's actually the lead scout for a crack team of commandowls from the Animal Uprising™. Soon, he and his team will be hunting more than mice.
(It was a nice USFWS Photo by Gary M. Stolz before we got ahold of it)
O RYLY?