An “extremely obese” little owl became too fat to fly after feasting on an abundance of mice and voles, experts said.

The bird was discovered in a ditch by a member of the public who feared she had suffered an injury, but after carrying out several tests staff at Suffolk Owl Sanctuary denoted her grounded condition to an “unusual case of natural obesity”.

Plump, as she was nicknamed, was put on a two-week diet after arriving at the sanctuary. 

Weighing 245g on admission, the bird was around a third heavier than a large healthy female little owl (Athene noctua), and lost between 30g and 40g over the course of a fortnight.

“This is the first time we’ve had this. It’s quite unusual,” said the sanctuary’s head falconer Rufus Samkin. “After Christmas we can all relate.”

As it is so unusual for wild birds to get into this condition naturally, staff conducted a series of tests to make sure she was not an escaped pet or aviary bird.

Enquiries in the area for missing pets yielded no results, while Plump showed no signs of identification chips or rings.

The sanctuary instead observed Plump’s familiarity with common foods used in aviaries – such as bright yellow chicks which are not often found naturally in the English countryside – and are a tell-tale sign of a life in captivity.

Plump readily took more wild-type foods such as dark mice, so staff said they were confident it was likely to be an “unusual case of natural obesity”.

After further investigation, staff also found that the area where Plump was rescued was crawling with field mice and voles due to a warm and wet winter.

Typically, if an owl is found in a ditch, sanctuary staff would expect an injury to be preventing it from flying, they said. Occasionally becoming wet causes an owl to become grounded.

Plump has now been released back into the wild.

Additional reporting by PA

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