Petition calls for investigation into owl centre

More than 600 people have signed a petition calling on the RSPCA and council to investigate an owl education project in York city centre.

The Owl Educational Centre on Goodramgate opened at the beginning of April and sells visitors the opportunity to hold owls as well as running educational sessions.

The petition was launched by Huntingdon resident Shane Sayner who set it up after seeing posts about the centre on social media.

Ryan Stocks from Owl Adventures, which runs the shop, said the organisation adhered to all the laws and regulations relating to the welfare of the birds.

Mr Sayner said he had concerns about charging people £5 to see the birds.

"It's on a busy street that gets a lot of tourists and there will be people queuing up to see these birds inside the shop.

"I think the birds would be scared seeing the tourists. They're outdoor creatures so you wouldn't expect them to be in a shop."

Mr Sayner said the council or RSPCA should look into how the business would be managed because York was "very busy and there could be hundreds of people outside to see these birds".

Mr Stocks said the petition was asking for the council or the RSPCA to "come and have a look" at the business and said he was happy for either of them to do so.

"I'm even happy to ring them myself and invite them in. We've dealt with both parties a number of times. I'm very experienced working with these organisations."

Mr Stocks said the organisation was focused on helping people understand the birds and the shop was intended to be used as an educational hub rather than an entertainment venue.

He said: "The owls don't live in the venue, they live in aviaries that are purposely built and we do a lot of care home and school visits, and displays.

"We have to charge if people want to hold them, because if we do a donation-based free for all loads of people want to hold and it's too much work for the birds so it slows down that handling."

He added owls in the organisation's care had days off, regular breaks, and were hand-reared and born in captivity rather than wild animals.

The centre would be a retail unit selling books and toys related to birds of prey and bringing the owls in was an "added attraction not the main focus."

"It looks that way at the minute because we didn't have a lot of money for stock," he added.

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