A few years back one of Dave's grandson's (Grant) was doing a school project and needed family stories, and Dave shared the one below. It's the story about how he saved an owl from becoming owl soup. It is an amazing story!
The Owl and the Pussy Cat
A True Story
By David M. Sullivan
One rainy winter Friday night in Istanbul arriving home at our apartment, I found Shirley hors de combat in bed fighting a heavy cold. She said "Dave please take the children out to dinner; I am to ill to prepare meals" Into the car went Kate, Robert, William and I and we drove up the Bosphorus towards the Black Sea to select one of the many seafood restaurants along the water.
We arrived and were walking towards the lokantasi restaurant when we saw three young Turkish men, one holding a shrouded form in front of him. As we approached closer we saw that they held a very big owl whose eyes were an angry fierce orange orb about the size of a gold dollar. In our pidgin Turkish we asked the young men why they had an owl and Robert picked out the word "Chorba" in their reply. Chorba means soup. They were selling the bird for making owl soup. Kate, who was about fourteen at the time, became incensed and insisted that we must save the owl by buying it from the heartless brutes.
Overwhelmed by her fervid pleadings we bargained and got the owl for 300 lira, about $3.00 at that time. As we approached the restaurant I was relieved to see that the owl's legs were well bound thus immobilizing its talons We entered the restaurant and checked our outer garments at the hat check counter and to free my hands we also checked in the owl. We ate a delicious meal and exited with our owl after a healthy tip to the concierge for minding our beast.
Our intention was to release it the next day, Saturday in the Belgrade forest outside Istanbul.
Arriving home very excited, we awakened Shirley in the dimly lit bedroom and revealed our acquisition. Groggy from medication and sleep she could only weakly exclaim" Oh no! not another cat!" Meanwhile, our housecat, Sambo, immediately sensed the presence of another animal in the house so we put her into a bedroom and locked the door because all our doors had French door handles and Sambo knew how to leap to the handle, grab it and let her body weight open the door.
Leaving Shirley to her delirium we proceeded downstairs to the living room. Our idea was to cut the bonds tying the owl to see it walk or hop about in anticipation of its release on the morrow. Bonds cut, the owl took a step forward and fell flat on its face! Thinking its legs were unsteady due to the bonds, we tried three more times. The owl could not walk! It fell every time. We had purchased a sick owl!
On Saturday, instead of the Belgrade Forest, we were at a veterinarian's office where it was confirmed that we had purchased a sick owl and antibiotics were issued. At home just off the living room was a walk-in closet with, in a thick wall, a window overlooking the Bospohorus. We wedged a wooden crosspiece between the window frame and set the owl upon it. There it sat for two weeks as it was given thrice daily eyedroppers full doses of antibiotics and after the first week little meatballs.
It is interesting to note that an owl's upper beak curves over the tip of its lower flatter beak thus creating side openings into which we could insert the eyedropper and later on push in meatballs. Other owl facts: We determined that the owl was a "European Eagle Owl" the largest owl in Europe. It stood about 18" and had a wing span of approx. 4'. When angered or frightened it would turn itself into a white ball approx. diameter of 2' of extended feathers with its head lowered into the center of the ball ,feathers extended, eyes ablaze, emitting a fierce cawing, clicking call.
Meanwhile, Sambo became intensely curious about the scent she detected in the closet. We would not let her into the closet not knowing what could happen because we knew Sambo to be fearless and the owl to be wild. Finally, the owl could be heard flapping its wings on its perch and later trying to fly in the narrow closet only resulting in knocking many garments to the floor. It was Friday night, two weeks to the day. Tomorrow to the Belgrade Forest for Owl Launch!
As before, we took the owl out of the closet to the living room floor to see it walk and move about. However we forgot about Sambo. She quickly appeared over our heads at the top to the staircase and immediately went into the feline stalking mode. Down below the owl had spotted the cat instantly but made no move other than to rotate its head to keep the cat always in site as it moved slowly slowly step by slow step down the staircase. Note that an owl can rotate its head 180 degrees without moving its body.
After ten or so minutes the cat reached the floor 90 degrees to the left of the owl; then crawled under a sofa in front of the owl, next under a chair 90 degrees to the right and finally under a wrought iron drinks bar directly behind the owl. The owl without moving its body had observed every Sambo step. We held our breath. Something would happen!
Suddenly the two animals were flying! The cat slightly behind the owl. Over the sofa they went sliding across the width of a dining room table and CRASH!! into a picture window overlooking the dark Bosphorus and freedom. Racing after them I brushed Sambo away and grasped the owl. We were delighted. Sambo had inspired a test flight of the owl. We knew that it could now fly so tomorrow would truly be Owl Launch Day.
Saturday morning we placed the owl into a large wicker basket with a top and drove to the Belgrade Forest where we parked and walked deep into the forest carrying the owl. We found a small clearing and took the top off the basket walking back about fifteen feet to see what would happen. Soon the owl's head arose over the rim of the basket and it surveyed the surroundings. After a moment it climbed up inside of the basket causing it to tumble over after which the owl could calmly walk out of the opening. It stood for a moment studying the terrain and then with a powerful leap was airborne flying low between the trees but finally crashing to the ground when a wing was blocked by a low branch.
We had made a mistake. We took the owl too deep into the forest. A big Eagle owl does not take off vertically like a small bird. It needs open space to rise off the ground and gradually gain altitude. Back into the basket went the owl as we marched out of the forest to a nearby meadow where we repeated our release procedure. This time the owl took off like an avian 747 gradually gaining altitude becoming smaller and smaller in the distance as we watched.
We were about to head toward the parking lot when Bill noticed that the owl was turning. It circled back and finally flew overhead about 200 feet in the air above us.
At that moment it seemed that the owl tipped its wings as a sort of thank you and then disappeared over the forest trees. We went home happy. The owl did not become chorba. We did not acquire "Another Cat". We had had an unforgettable experience with a magnificent wild creature.
