2 days ago
Call from Officeworks sparks three-day mission after worrying find in store
A call from concerned staff at an Officeworks store has triggered a three-day rescue mission after a surprise visitor was spotted chucking laps around the store's roof. Employees were stunned to discover one morning last week that a boobook owl had also decided to clock in at the Maroochydore venue, in Queensland.
Hoping the bird would realise his error and head home, they placed a bowl of water on the ground in a bid to keep him comfortable. But as the owl continued to flap his wings metres above their heads, staff realised they needed proper help.
Enter Keith Porteous, otherwise known online as The Wildlife Rescuer.
After arriving at the Officeworks, the Sunshine Coast local told Yahoo News he tried to catch the owl as it slept during the day but it was 'too clever for that'. The following day he tried to lure the boobook down with mealworms and mice, but it wouldn't budge.
'He wasn't coming down at all. I think because the store had the lights on 24 hours, and the bird being nocturnal, it was totally spun out by that,' Porteous said.
'The factor that concerned me most is, like all big stores, they lay baits for rodents, so there was a high possibility it might pick up one of those in the store. So I was quite keen to get it out as quickly as possible.'
Finally, after eluding Porteous for three days, the owl, which had likely chased his dinner into the warehouse, was captured with the help of 'an extremely fine net that is virtually invisible to the bird'.
'It's such an unnatural place, with very, very high ceilings and very, very low doors, and the doors are glass as well, so the birds can't understand that. So they get their way in there, and they just can't navigate their way out,' the rescuer told Yahoo.
Video footage shows Porteous repeatedly trying to catch the owl as it flaps across the rows of shelves, before gently retrieving it with the large net. After cutting off the netting in the store's locker room, he found the bird was healthy and released it in the carpark.
While one of the great perks of living in Australia is being able to observe its distinct wildlife, such incidents appear to be occurring more frequently.
Last year Bunnings shoppers shared concerns for the welfare of a barn owl flying around a shop in Melbourne's west. Earlier this year, two Coles stores were visited by curious magpies, one of which frequented a Canberra supermarket for a month.
Usually, Porteous responds to two to three call-outs for birds stuck in stores a year. In the past six months he has completed 10 to 12 rescues. 'Over the last few years I have done quite a lot, but it's stepped up a heap this year compared to others,' he told Yahoo.
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However Porteous said he wasn't sure if the increase was due to it occurring more often, or if locals were simply more familiar with his work and know he can handle such situations.
Other wildlife rescuers have also noted a jump in the number of birds getting caught in shops, with Nigel Williamson previously telling Yahoo it seems to be 'happening more and more often'.
'I've been getting birds out of supermarkets for 40 years now, but it does seem to me that I'm doing more and more of them as time goes on," he said in March.
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