In the Press.
Monkbar Hotel’s Owl Adoption Is A “Wise” Move
Owls about that then! Monkbar Hotel director June Nelsey with “monkbarn” owl, Spike. Picture by Malcolm Rouse
York’s Best Western Monkbar Hotel has made an early new year investment which is anything but a flight of fancy!
For the award-winning hotel has teamed up with the Bird of Prey & Conservation Centre at Sion Hill Hall, Kirby Wiske, to adopt a barn owl called Spike.
Last year, animal-loving hotel director June Nelsey installed half-a-dozen imitation owls around the building, as a humane way of scaring away pigeons.
Because the initiative has been so successful at diminishing the numbers of winged pests, June decided to pass on her thanks to a real owl instead. Now, for the next 12-months, Spike has been adopted by the Best Western Monkbar Hotel.
June said: “Sion Hill Hall has a staggering collection of birds of prey. In recognition of the fantastic job the six imitation owls have done – and the work the bird of prey centre does - we thought it would be a great idea to sponsor a real owl.
“We have chosen Spike. He’s under a year old, has been hand-reared at the hall and is extremely popular with visitors.
“We think it’s a very ‘wise’ investment and we can now rightly call Spike our “Monkbarn” Owl!”
As part of the adoption package, the hotel’s name will be inscribed on a plaque on the sponsored species' enclosure and a certificate of adoption will be hung in hotel’s reception.
* The Falconry Centre at Sion Hill Hall, provides a suitable habitat and food supply for birds of prey to flourish.
January 28, 2009