Well-Planned Zoo Theft Leaves Mate of Rare Owl Alone and Disoriented

A rare African owl was stolen from its cage at the San Diego Zoo over the weekend in an apparently well-planned heist that has left its mate disoriented and zoo officials angry.

A female African milky eagle owl and its male companion were discovered missing from their cage about 6 a.m. Saturday by an animal-behavior specialist for the zoo who was on his way to another exhibit, according to zoo spokesman Jeff Jouett. A 2-foot square had been cut in the owls’ wire enclosure. Three strands of a barbed-wire fence surrounding the zoo had also been cut, Jouett said.

“We only know that the person who took these birds knew what they were after,” Jouett said. “They were very methodical.”

Male Owl Recovered in Tree

The male owl was recovered shortly before 7 a.m. in a tree near the enclosure, but the female is still missing. The owls, the only such birds on exhibit at the zoo, are in the captive breeding program.

The female was worth about $2,000, but “far exceeds that in value to the zoo,” Jouett said. “The pair had just bonded and were mating. They don’t necessarily mate for life, but it will definitely (affect) him.”

The male owl had to be hosed down in the tree so that he couldn’t fly, and was then netted, Jouett said. That, coupled with his mate’s disappearance, left the bird “somewhat disoriented, and (he) was placed in quarantine.”

San Diego police are investigating. Whoever stole the bird was believed to have gained entrance over the barbed-wire fence between midnight and 6 a.m. Zoo security guards checked on the birds at midnight and at 2:30 a.m., but would not have seen the cut wire on the cage because it was obscured by a tree, Jouett said.

“If it weren’t for the timing, we might have caught the people involved,” Jouett said. “Like I said, it was well-planned.”

Footprints were found in the exhibit, but Jouett said it had not been determined whether they were from the owls’ keepers. Without signs of a struggle and given the owls’ sharp beak and talons, Jouett said, the abductors evidently knew how to handle the animals.

“The person who stole the owls did so at great risk to the owls . . . and himself,” he said.

Not Endangered Species, But Rare in Captivity

The owl is not listed as an endangered species, but is extremely rare in captivity, Jouett said. The Dallas Zoo in Texas and the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S. C., are the only other zoos in the United States that have such birds.

The female had come to the San Diego Zoo from Riverbanks in 1985 and had been raised by hand. It could not survive if let loose, Jouett said. She laid her first egg about one month ago, and, although the egg was infertile, zoo officials felt the bird would be a vital component in their breeding program.

The owls are light brown, have a black circle around their faces and have distinctive pink eyelids.

A review of the theft could result in increased security, although zoo officials said they believe the current level is adequate. Several armed guards patrol the 100-acre park night and day.

In February, 1988, a pair of rare Australian “gang-gang” cockatoos were stolen from their cage at the zoo. The birds, valued at $20,000, were taken after someone cut mesh wiring in the back of the enclosure and pried open the cage door.

The birds were never recovered.