An owl has kicked off Halloween by stealing a toy stick horse (also known as a hobby horse) and riding it around like a witch on a broomstick. The great horned owl took the horse from an unknown resident of Eureka, Illinois, before being captured on film by resident Eric Lind.
Lind’s mother had been called by one of her neighbors to tell her to look up at a pine tree, Lind told Newsweek. The neighbors could not tell what the owl was holding, but Lind and his mother knew right away.
“Current situation at my parents’ house,” Lind wrote on Facebook. “The young neighborhood owl has stolen this stick horse and is flying around the neighborhood with it.”
He added that the stick horse was not his own, writing “if your child is missing their stick horse, you’ll have to talk to the owl”.
Pictures of the theft and joyriding went viral on several other platforms. Several users suggested that one of the images of the owl flying with its prize was fake, but they are stills from a video Lind uploaded.
In an update on Facebook, Lind explained that after some people had expressed concern he believes the owl was not entangled in the toy horse’s reigns, as he witnessed the bird changing its grip on the toy.
“This owl is part of a family of owls that have been in the neighborhood for about 6 months now, and this is one of the young owls,” he wrote, adding “if someone sees that the owl is in danger or believes it is hurt, I’m sure the proper authorities would be contacted”.
[H/T: Newsweek]
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