A man has been reunited with his pet owl after spending two days swinging a dead rat on a piece of string to entice the bird down from a rooftop.
Mark Smith, from Peterborough, lost Bengal Benny on Bonfire night but found out that she was in the city centre through a missing pets site on Facebook and the Independent Bird Register.
After spotting her on the rooftop, the 32-year-old used a rat he kept in his freezer to lure the bird down, the Peterborough Telegraph reported. A video showed Smith swinging the rat on a string as bemused passersby looked on. Reporter Joel Lamy tweeted: “I’m filming a man trying to entice his pet owl off a roof with a dead rat on a string. I didn’t see this coming.”
I'm filming a man trying to entice his pet owl off a roof with a dead rat on a string. I didn't see this coming pic.twitter.com/4rhfEtNJN7
— Joel Lamy (@PTJoelLamy) December 15, 2015
Smith, a support worker who has owned the owl for 10 years, spent four hours trying to tempt Benny down on Monday before he was forced to abandon his attempts for the day. But after he resumed his efforts on Tuesday, the hungry bird finally came down.
A happy man re-united with a hungry owl. Owl-zat for a great ending #unbirdlievable pic.twitter.com/rlGR885GEt
— Joel Lamy (@PTJoelLamy) December 15, 2015
