I have a wildlife zoo

Fang Ye cited references in a flowing manner, "For a long time, owls were considered an unlucky symbol among the people, a type of bird that caused fear and loathing, known as 'night owls.' The related sayings were all prejudiced and derogatory.

"Things like 'when the night owl enters the house, good things won't come,' 'Wu Dalang playing with night owls—like attracts like,' 'I'm not afraid of the night owl's call, but I dread its laugh.'

"There is a legend about the laughter of an owl, that when a person who has been sick for a while hears an owl laughing outside the window, it is actually counting their eyebrows, and when it finishes counting, that person will die."

"In 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer,' there is a passage where Linghu Chong is badly injured, and when Lu Dayou was taking care of him at night, he suddenly heard an owl crying outside. Frightened, he immediately dipped his finger in some saliva and smeared it over Linghu Chong's eyebrows, to make it difficult for the owl to count them."

Lu Xun also said, 'Sometimes, I definitely do not seek victory in the realm of public opinion, because sometimes my words are like an owl's cry, heralding great misfortune.'

"I always thought 'night owls' referred to cats in heat at night, but it turns out to be specifically about owls."

"I've heard this legend about the laughter of owls from my grandmother!"

"Awesome!"

Fang Ye continued, "The reason why owls are so disliked and seen as an ill omen is partly because they are indeed mysterious, often appearing in desolate places on dark and stormy nights, emitting eerie cries, and eating things like rats and carrion, leading people to naturally associate them with disease and death.

Moreover, owls have a habit where after eating their food, they regurgitate indigestible bones and fur after a while, which is a clump called a pellet. Many carnivorous birds of prey actually exhibit this pellet regurgitating behavior."

The ancients couldn't understand this bizarre behavior, so they let their imaginations run wild and thought that the owls were consuming their own mothers."

They deemed it a bird that was unfilial, malicious, and cruel!

Especially in the Han dynasty, which extolled filial piety, owls were considered unfilial birds, and you can imagine how miserable they were."

"Shuowen Jiezi" explains the owl as: 'An unfilial bird. When it appears by day, catch the owl and crucify it. With a bird's head on wood.'

It means such an unfilial bird, when seen during the daytime, should be caught, decapitated, and its head hung on a tree as a warning to its kind."

"Han Palace Etiquette" even records, 'On the summer solstice, owl soup is bestowed upon the officials with the desire to eradicate their kind.'

Saying the emperor would gift his ministers with soup made from owls, encouraging everyone to catch and eat them."

I'd like to remind everyone here, all wild animals carry a variety of disease-causing bacteria and parasites, so remember never to eat wild game!"

The online audience was stunned!

"Damn, looking at it this way, owls really have it tough!"

"Literally more wronged than Dou E, undeservedly burdened with the label of an unfilial bird, and subjected to all kinds of slaughter."

"Thank goodness such superstitions are gone now."

"Poor owls!"

"Eh, the most cruel are actually humans."

"Hmm... I suspect the ancients just wanted to eat them without any psychological burden, so they pinned such a label on them!"

Fang Ye went on, "Owls are misunderstood and slandered, but in fact, they are truly skilled at catching mice. According to statistics, one owl can eat an average of a thousand mice a year.

The ghostly-looking barn owl is even fiercer when it comes to catching mice, consuming up to two thousand in just one summer."

The long-eared owl, with its especially prominent ear tufts, has been analyzed by ornithologists who discovered that 97% of its diet consists of rodents.

During the breeding season, long-eared owls catch and store a large number of mice even before their chicks hatch. Some say long-eared owls have an innate penchant for hunting mice because they kill them whenever they see them, even though sometimes they don't eat the mice after killing them.

When it comes to catching mice, cats are no match for owls!

However, with humans' rampant deforestation and habitat reduction, along with the capturing and killing of owls, their numbers have greatly decreased.

After saying so much, the aim is to dispel some of the prejudices and misunderstandings people have about owls. Owls are actually very adorable birds, and if we don't protect them well, we might only be able to see them in movies and novels in the future."

Netizens indeed had little understanding of owls before!

Some thought they were simply adorable after watching videos of people petting owls, while others were spooked by their eerie nocturnal calls or had heard ominous legends about them, so they didn't have a very good impression.

After listening to Fang Ye's explanations, everyone gained a refreshed understanding and started to respect owls more.

"I don't feel so averse to owls anymore!"

"Just for their mouse-catching abilities alone, we should protect them well!"

"Screw Love" tipped 5 shrimp balls!

"Snowy Tomorrow" tipped 1 rice ball!

Fang Ye pondered for a moment, "I've seen people talk about owl cafes; these became popular in Japan, so sometimes Japan's way of treating animals is really hard to express in words.

Owl cafes might be interesting to people, but they are not a good place for owls.

At the most basic level, owls are nocturnal animals. The night is their comfortable environment, but owl cafes have to let customers visit; they can't just draw the curtains and turn off the lights for visitors to see in the dark, can they? Bright and harsh lighting, music, and the noisy chatter of humans, even petting, are all strong stimuli for owls.

Many times when an owl tightens its body and closes its eyes while being touched, it might look cute and appear to be enjoying itself, but in reality, it's showing signs of fear and stress.

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And why do owls obediently stand still, allowing people to touch them? Because their legs are shackled with chains, tethering them to the spot, preventing them from moving. Even when they're resting and not serving customers, they're still tied up.

Standing on the same small spot all year round is not much different from standing and waiting for death.

It's not just mental harm; it can also lead to muscular atrophy and other issues. Different types of owls are kept together in close quarters, which is an environment prone to disease transmission. Some smaller owls may even be on the menu for larger owls. Imagine staying with your natural predator every day; doesn't the thought make you shudder?

Of course, owls can't thrive in such an environment. It's been said that in one owl cafe with 30 owls, 7 died within a year—some of them just toppled over from their perch...

The origin of these owls is also a problem. Breeding owls is a demanding process that needs a wide territory in the wild for a chance of success. The cost of artificial breeding is high, so the popularity of these owl cafes has also spurred a market for owl poaching, exacerbating illegal hunting and trading.

Owl cafes don't promote educational knowledge on protection. Visitors who have enjoyed their visit will only find owls cute and want to buy one to keep, rather than support owl protection and donate to relevant organizations. This has been researched and proven.

Following the release of the "Harry Potter" movies in 2001, the trade of pet owls in Indonesia surged drastically from a hundred or so a year to 13,000 a year—a 130-fold increase.

Owls indeed look adorable, but they are birds of prey that need vast territories, have sharp talons, emit terrifying calls at night, consume a significant amount of meat, don't enjoy being touched, and require specialized knowledge to care for. They are not suitable for keeping as personal pets.

Many people buy them out of curiosity and for novelty but might end up accidentally killing the owls, or after some time and learning about these shortcomings, they may dislike and no longer want to keep them, and then carelessly discard the sick owls.

So, I want to remind everyone, in China, owls are a second-level protected species, and keeping them personally is first and foremost illegal. Even outside China, it's not recommended to keep owls.

Owls are creatures of unique charm. While they are cute, I hope everyone can appreciate them in the right way."