TRAVEL
Stowaway Owl Kicked Off Royal Caribbean Cruise Ship
Source: FWCC
After spending two weeks cruising the Caribbean for free, a free-loading owl has finally been kicked off a Royal Caribbean cruise ship.
According to the Washington Post, the pint-size burrowing owl refused to leave the Royal Caribbean’s Symphony of the Seas when it docked in Miami after making itself at home on the ship’s Central Park – a pastoral setting with natural vegetation.
This burrowing owl decided to take a two-week holiday aboard @RoyalCaribbean's Symphony of the Seas, but don’t worry – our biologist Ricardo Zambrano swooped in to save the day! pic.twitter.com/6TZngnyowJ
— MyFWC (@MyFWC) March 7, 2023
“It was kind of stressful, especially after missing it twice,” said Ricardo Zambrano, a wildlife biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. “It was trap-weary and onto us. We had to do it quickly, before passengers came back onboard.”
Although seemingly in good health after two weeks at sea, the bird was transported to @SF_WildlifeCtr as a precautionary measure. pic.twitter.com/pgGy1wSYHR
— MyFWC (@MyFWC) March 7, 2023
After an hour-long ordeal, Zambrano managed to capture the owl.
According to the Washington Post, the FWCC team transported the owl to the South Florida Wildlife Center, where the staff deemed the owl healthy but a little too skinny. After fattening the bird on a diet of bugs and small rodents, the travel-weary owl was returned to the wild.
