"Suffolk"

Page last revised:
12th November 2004

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Dunwich
SNOWY OWL
An escaped snowy owl has become an unusual tourist attraction on the Suffolk coast. Fetlar, a five year old owl from the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary near Stowmarket, escaped from his handler during a routine flight three weeks ago. He stayed near the sanctuary for the first few days then vanished, and reappeared near Dunwich.

The large white owl has a four and a half foot wingspan. He resembles Hedwig, the snowy owl that carries messages for Harry Potter in the famous series of books and films.

Fetlar is surviving by eating rabbits, but sanctuary staff are concerned that the owl, which they reared from a chick, will be unable to survive in the wild for much longer. Attempts to lure him back are being hampered by onlookers.

Sanctuary warden Julie Finnis said: “He’s big and impressive and so does attract attention, which is not particularly good. All the time there’s a crowd of people standing around he’s not going to respond to us.”

Sanctuary staff hope to persuade people to keep out of the way while Gary Butcher, Fetlar’s favourite handler tries to lure him in with a dead rabbit.

17th April 2004
(Source: BBC News)

Contributed & Written by: Lisa Willow

File: 2004-144
Ref No: 1207

UPDATE:
An escaped snowy owl which has been living wild near Dunwich on the Suffolk coast, has been found shot dead. Fetlar escaped from his handler at the Suffolk Owl Sanctuary at Stonham Barns, near Stowmarket, just over three weeks ago.

He survived by eating rabbits while staff from the sanctuary tried to lure him home. But sanctuary staff received a phone call on Sunday from a woman who had found the dead owl’s body near a caravan park at Dunwich

Head falconer Andy Hulme said: “We got a phone call yesterday morning from a lady staying on the caravan park, who had gone to say goodbye to Fetlar because she was leaving. She found him lying nearby, dead. One of our falconers went over and discovered he was still warm, so he must have been shot that morning. "We are pretty devastated and gutted. He was coming up for six years this year and we have known him since he was three days old. "He was hatched here. We named him after the Scottish island where snowy owls once bred in this country. "We had a close relationship with him and he was quite tame as he had been hand-reared. "You have got to be pretty accurate with an air rifle - it has been done on purpose. I personally would think it was a youngster taking a pot-shot who killed him."

Police have been informed.

19th April 2004
(Source BBC News )

Contributed & Written by: Lisa Willow

File: 2004-144
Ref No: 1209

FURTHER UPDATE:
Mystery surrounds owl's death
It is now unclear how a snowy owl died. Five year old Fetlar, who was 20 inches tall with a 4ft 6 inch wingspan was found by a holidaymaker at a caravan park in Dunwich, Suffolk on Sunday April 18th. He had been roosting in trees after escaping from the owl sanctuary at Stonham Aspel the previous month.

Sanctuary staff, who had been trying to get him back, thought at first he had been shot with an air-rifle because the only visible wound was a large hole in his neck. Suffolk police said there was no evidence to support this conclusion.

A post-mortem revealed that Fetlar died as a result of massive bruising and trauma to the neck.

23rd April 2004
(Source: East Anglian Daily Times)

Contributed by: Lisa Willow
Written by: Paul Williams

File: 2004-144
Ref No: 1229

COYPU
Coypu were regularly seen in East Anglian areas this population was originally escapee's from nearby fur farms, however these were apparently eradicated by the MAFF in order to prevent further populations establishing themselves

If you know of any other populations out there in the UK then please contact us, our intentions are only to log these creatures

Introduced into Britain from South America around 1929, for their pelts the Coypu established themselves quite well, but sadly caused a lot of damage to aquatic and waterside vegetation, in 1980 plans were made to eradicate these, and by 1988 the job apparently appeared to be done.

Wickham market
WALLABIES
Suffolk Wallabies
There have been sightings of wallabies in Suffolk. A cyclist encountered one near Wickham market and a dead one was reported in a ditch at Bucklesham.

The reporter saw a wallaby some years ago sitting by the roadside at Warren Heath.

Wallabies have been reported in Yorkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire. One was found dead last year at Dereham in Norfolk.

During World War II a collection of wallabies was released into the wild by the Brocklehurst family.

(Source: Ipswich Evening Star - 24th September 2004)

Written by: Paul Williams

File: 2004-249
Ref No: 1727

Contributed by: Lisa Willow 
Re-Write By: Cher Jenkins

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