A SPECTACLED owl called Ugg is being hand-reared at the Wildlife Park, Ballaugh.
The six-week-old, which is taken home each night by the park’s duty manager Tina Jauncey, has settled right in. Ugg enjoys nothing more than watching tennis, football and Springwatch on the TV.
Tina said that Ugg had to be taken away from her mum because she was only able to nest on the ground – which made Ugg vulnerable both to predators and the wet weather.
Ugg – which picked up its name because ‘it was so ugly when it was born’ – no longer has to be fed with tweezers, and has been placed in a larger cage to learn how to fly.
Tina said: ‘Because Ugg doesn’t realise it’s an owl we will use it as part of our animal experiences because hopefully Ugg will be quite tame.’
Ugg may be white – except for it’s black mask-like face – at the moment, but its adult plumage will be brown.