Owls are increasingly popular in falconry, as social media props and in educational demonstrations, but their welfare needs differ fundamentally from diurnal raptors and are frequently misunderstood.
Owls in captivity present welfare challenges specific to their physiology and behaviour. Their feathers provide no waterproofing — moisture causes hyperthermia risk that diurnal raptors avoid through flight. Their specialised hearing and silent flight are features of an animal evolved for night-time stealth, not daytime social interaction. Owls used as permanent photography props in tourist settings, handled repeatedly throughout the day, experience chronic disruption of natural activity patterns. Free flight in appropriate falconry contexts provides the most welfare-positive captive experience, but only when birds are properly trained, flown regularly and returned to appropriate facilities between sessions.