Three Owls has closed its doors

Three Owls Bird Sanctuary has closed its doors

Three Owls Bird Sanctuary in Norden has sadly had to close the doors to its hospital and stop its aviary-work with the birds because they have struggled to keep up with the legislation required – the trustees at the  sanctuary decided on Friday (5 February) that there was no way forward for Three Owls to continue in its present form.

The final straw came for the sanctuary when they received a letter from the council, which read:

"Discussions between yourself and Council officers on earlier occasions have allowed the Council to understand the current operating practises on site. Details of these have been relayed to the Council's legal team on two separate occasions; in both instances it has been deemed that the current operating practices lie within the scope of the Act, thereby requiring the Sanctuary to obtain a Zoo Licence."

The Sanctuary Trustees have explored possible angles to try and meet the Council's requirements for Zoo Licensing.

However, as the Charity has never been designed to be a zoo with all the implications that brings with it, then it is neither physically feasible nor financially viable to try and meet all the regulations or exemptions which Rochdale Council are insisting are met.

In a post on the Sanctuary’s website, Trustee Nigel Fowler, wrote: “I am very much aware of all the hard work that the public have gone to in providing funding in answer to our appeals; had this simply been a funding matter, then we may have stood a greater chance of overcoming it. However, it is far more than that, funding has been tight, but we we're getting through that. This legislation we have been faced with is insurmountable with the way Three Owls is set out to operate, I just wish they had presented the Act to us back in 1981 when it first came to power. As it now stands, Three Owls would be classed as a zoo, and the implications that come with that are onerous and far too costly both in terms of money and bird welfare – hence the difficult but essential decision to close.”

The Sanctuary will not be accepting new casualties into the hospital, but they will endeavour to find good homes at other sanctuaries for all the birds that cannot be released in the near future, or are permanent residents.

Mr Fowler, continued: “Closing the Sanctuary is very much a last resort, and this decision has only been taken when we are sure that there are no other viable options left open to us. It is, however, a decision that the Trustees have collectively made, and it is important for the birds' welfare that we make it, and don't have closure forced upon us. This ensures that we have the timescale needed to re-house the resident birds in the coming months.”