Meet "Hüwi" a Turkmenian Eagle Owl

Today we visited Linton zoological garden and Cambridgeshire's wildlife breeding centre. I know that many people have strong feelings about keeping animals captive, but breeding centres such as this support conservation and offer education, so need support from the public.

This owlet is 6 months old. He was abandoned by his parents and was hand reared by the young woman who did the demonstration. The relationship between them was a pleasure to watch, so much trust, as he could do her serious damage!!

He now weighs about 4kgs close to his adult weight. It is believed that these birds are extinct in their original wild range around Turkmenistan, there are very few pure bred birds in captivity info from website.

This was a superb opportunity to see animals close up and see the beautiful and funny reactions of the small children. A bit of a challenge taking photographs through the wire enclosures, didn't do too bad, but there must be techniques to learn that will improve my end results!!!

Again I have hundreds of pictures and will put them on flickR tomorrow. We do need to eat tonight so foodie priorities win!!!!!

Better viewed Large!!!