Photo by Adrianna Glaviano
I’ve hated birds most of my life, but owls are different. They’re not morons like sparrows or disgusting roadkill eaters like crows. Owls are wise old souls who get to spend their days chilling on branches, rotating their necks 360 degrees, and staring at things with wide-eyed curiosity. Hoping that some of their majesty would rub off on us, we visited I Falconieri delle Orobie, a family-run falconry center in Villa d’Adda, Italy. The center’s specimens include an African horned owl named Wendy, Fumetta the red-legged brown owl, and two barn owls named Snoopy and Heidi. While visiting, we met a 12-year-old girl named Martina who told us—while cuddling a tiny owl named Molla—that in order to train an owl you must first feed it by hand to form a bond. I think if everyone got his or her own owl to raise we would have world peace in no time.Watch a brand-new episode of The Cute Show! featuring Molla and friends.