Ehtel and Louis the Cape Eagle Owls

'E' is for Ethel the Eagle Owl! ;-)

PLEASE DO LOOK AT MY BACKBLIPS STARTING HERE!

Their story is absolutely touching, please read this:

Ethel is the olderst bird at the centre and was born in 1970, she was hit by a car in Gauteng and taken to the Johannesburg Zoo. She had lost the sight of one eye and was badly bruised. After plenty TLC she was placed in an aviary there. and only got to the Dullstroom centre in 2000. On arrival she was introduced to Louis and Huey, two male Cape Eagle Owls who both made a beeline for her. Well, Louis (in this picture) obviously had the gift of the gab, and it was a match made in heaven, whilst Huey went the other way to Johannesburg Zoo. These two have bred every year and you can catch Mo-Jo, their first chick, in one of the shows.

Louis arrived in 1999 and we really don't know how old he is. He had been captured by some men who then pulled out all of his flight feathers for muti. Luckily this was spotted by a gentleman who very bravely rescued him and brought him through to the centre. He was in a very bad shape, with no major feathers. It took a couple of weeks to calm him down, but when he did, he settled in quickly. They hoped to release him, but his flight feathers never recovered into shape and he is still flight impaired.

Ethel is, unfortunately, a bit shy and always hides behind the others, therefore C could not really get a good picture of her.