An Idaho couple got the shock of their lives when an owl "broke into" their high-rise home Sunday and killed their pet canary, according to CDA Press.
Don and Sue Sausser woke up early Sunday and found a 6-to-8-inch-brownish, yellow-eyed owl and its droppings inside their 10th floor apartment in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, The Associated Press reported.
"There was a racket back over here, and I looked back there and there was the owl," Sue told the CDA Press.
And bird droppings weren't the only problem the owl gave the Sausser's.
"I'm going, 'Oh.' And there's feathers all over, all over. I didn't realize the bird was gone," Sue said.
According to CDA Press, the owl also killed one of their canaries and slightly injured the other, though they were both in a cage.
In order to open the cage, the owl must have lifted the door with his head, beak or talons, according to CDA Press.
But how did an owl get into a 10th-floor apartment?
Apparently through the couple's sliding glass door that was left open, according to CDA Press.
Beth Paragamian, a wildlife education specialist for Idaho Fish and Game and the Bureau of Land Management, said it's the strangest thing she's ever heard.
"That is very unusual," she said.
Paragamian told CDA Press that she is confused as to why an owl would fly so high in an area without tall trees and go into a human's home and open the birdcage just to kill the canary.
However, Toni Ruth from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game said young birds can journey far when exploring new areas or unfamiliar landscapes, according to Today's Zaman.
As for the other canary, "it's chirping and it's eating and drinking, so I think it's almost over the trauma," Sausser told Today's Zaman.
Still, the Saussers say they are going to put twist ties on the birdcage in case the owl remembers where they live and that the other canary is alive, the CDA Press reported.
"Isn't it strange? Who would have thought?" Sue said.
