... by raising him in their garage “just like in the book ‘Owls in the Family’ by Farley Mowat” they ended up imprinting the young owl – a condition where young animals learn who they are by what species raises them. Nemo thinks he is a human! Imprinted animals can be a threat to humans (by becoming aggressive and territorial when they mature) and almost always experience a long and painful death by starvation or predation if released to the wild. Thus such animals are typically either euthanized or placed in captivity (e.g., zoos) when confiscated from people who possess them illegally without a government permit.... Read More Below. Nemo came to me in summer 2005, a very unusual summer in that an exceptional number of long-eared owls nested in southern Manitoba that summer. Nemo was from a nest with six young long-eared owls in Winnipeg that was bull-dozed down accidentally to make way for a new housing development. One chick was found dead having been run over by the bulldozer and another 4 were found alive by me and a concerned citizen living near the nest tree. Because there was no nest and no habitat remaining in the area for the adults to raise these chicks, the four young owls were sent to my friend Kay McKeever in s. ON and were raised by unreleasable adult long-eared owls (foster parents) in her rehabilitation facility. They were not exposed to humans, grew up as ‘wild’ owls, and were able to learn to hunt live food for a year before they were returned to Manitoba for release into the wild near Birds Hill Provincial Park. Nemo was the 6th chick at this nest, and was found by a different person living in the area. This person did what they thought was best for Nemo, but by raising him in their garage “just like in the book ‘Owls in the Family’ by Farley Mowat” they ended up imprinting the young owl – a condition where young animals learn who they are by what species raises them. Nemo thinks he is a human! Imprinted animals can be a threat to humans (by becoming aggressive and territorial when they mature) and almost always experience a long and painful death by starvation or predation if released to the wild. Thus such animals are typically either euthanized or placed in captivity (e.g., zoos) when confiscated from people who possess them illegally without a government permit. An exception was made with Nemo and I decided to keep him under the auspices of the Manitoba Department of Conservation as an educational owl and to learn more about the biology of owls (e.g., behaviour and molt) to compliment my studies of wild owls in Manitoba. Since 2005 Nemo has been to 58 schools in southern Manitoba.
