London Pop-Up Bar Featuring Owls Sparks Concern
Contributed by on Feb 26, 2015
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For one week only this March, Londoners will have the opportunity to sip cocktails with some unlikely company—owls.
A pop-up bar called Annie the Owl will open from March 19 to 25 in London’s Soho neighborhood, and six owls—Annie, Darwin, Ruby, Cinders, Winston and Hootie—will be escorted through the bar by professional falconers. Only about ten customers will be allowed in the bar at a time.
While Annie the Owl has inspired a wealth of interested patrons, it has also inspired nearly 5,000 Londoners who question the welfare of the owls to sign a petition asking the Westminster Council to put a halt to the opening.
According to the Change.org petition, which was created by Sarah Stafford, the setting would inflict a “considerable amount of stress to the birds.”
“Many experienced falconers, owl lovers and raptor experts have major concerns about this pop-up cocktail bar where it appears alcohol, the general public and birds of prey will be mixing,” Stafford writes on the petition. “Even though these birds are captive bred for their work with the general public, to put them into this environment is a disaster waiting to happen.”
Find out more about Annie the Owl and the controversy surrounding it.