Joggers warned to beware of angry owl in
Oregon
Send a link to a friend
[February 06, 2015]
By Shelby Sebens
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Oregon
officials are warning early morning joggers and park visitors in the
state capital Salem to watch out for an owl who has an affinity for hats
after at least four people were attacked in a month.
|
No one was seriously hurt in any of the incidents, but Brad
Hilliard, 36, was one of at least two joggers to have lost headgear
in a brush with the bird.
"It was kind of amazing how it just swooped down and grabbed my hat
like that," Hilliard told Reuters of how he became the acquisitive
avian's latest victim early one morning this week.
"It just pulled it right off my head like it was nothing!"
Keith Keever, the city's parks superintendent, said officials had
never heard of a case like it before.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/06/images/ads/current/sunloan_bch_121614.png) Members of the Audubon Society, a bird conservancy group, a say the
bird is a barred owl and believe that just one owl is the culprit,
Keever said, and that it could be more aggressive because it is
nesting season.
Originally from the east coast and first seen in Oregon, Washington
and California in the 1970s, barred owls have been blamed for
pushing out the endangered northern spotted owl.
[to top of second column] |
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/06/images/ads/current/christian_village_lda_061014.png)
The bird in question has targeted runners near Bush's Pasture Park,
where signs now warn people to avoid jogging before dawn or,
jokingly, to consider putting on a hard hat.
Hilliard said he has been back a couple of times this week to look
for his cap. "It hasn't turned up yet," he said. "I just assume it's
being used in a nest!"
(Reporting by Shelby Sebens; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Sandra
Maler)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2015/Feb/06/images/ads/current/business_directory_filler.png) |