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Life Lessons/Self/Culture
Why Farmers Love & Hate Owls
Is an Owl a free security guard, a witch, or a lucky charm? Learn more.
“Yes, the owl is wiser, and she is the best and cheapest security guard to have.”— Grace Ekpenyong
My mother is a farmer and also runs other businesses. Growing up, I learned first-hand about owls, animals, crops, and other birds. Owls are not friendly birds like a parrot.
Everyone loves a parrot, but many perceive owls as bad luck or witches. In my culture, many people, including farmers, believe evil people turn into owls at night.
Far-fetched from the truth, the same farmers, including my mother, have a love-and-hate relationship with an owl. Why? Because at night, an owl is the chief security officer that protects their crops from animals and other birds.
Many farmers spend money to build statues of owls in the middle of their farms to drive away plant-eaters and thieves.
One day, a carpenter came to our farm with tools to help my mother build owl statues. I asked my mom why he was there. She smiled and said, "We are losing a lot of crops to birds and animals, so we are erecting an owl statue to help drive them…
