A MISSING owl has been found after owner Wayne Smith appealed for his pet’s safe return in the Gazette.

Last month, Mr Smith, 36, from Witney, issued a heartfelt plea for people to look out for Gizmo — a rare Peruvian striped owl — after he escaped from an aviary in the west of the town. The eight-month-old bird belongs to his six-year-old daughter Tia.

Two weeks later, RSPCA collection officer Dennis Lovell found Mr Smith’s missing owl in Crawley, a little over a mile away.

They were reunited that evening.

Father-of-four Mr Smith said: “It was a big worry that he had been hit by a car, as he wouldn’t have a clue what a car is, or the other fear I had was that he would be killed by a cat.”

Gizmo was finally caught by Mr Lovell after he received a call asking if he could rescue an injured owl which didn’t seem to be able to fly.

Mr Lovell said: “I obviously realised that it wasn’t a British owl, and on closer inspection I saw he was wearing leather jesses on his legs.

“He had caught a water rat, and he was not going to give it up easily — and that’s why he wasn’t flying away.

“I picked him up and took him home before making some enquiries to find the owner. An hour later, a very relieved Wayne turned up to collect Gizmo and take him home.”

Mr Lovell said he remembered reading about the missing owl.

Mr Smith had spotted Gizmo flying in the area several times, and was planning to camp in Crawley Mill that weekend to try to catch the bird, who refused to be enticed down with food.

Mr Smith’s partner, Petra Aston, said: “We had been told that Gizmo had been spotted, and Wayne had gone down to the area a number of times to try to catch him, but he hadn’t had any luck.

“We were really worried about him, so we were over the moon when we got the phone call from the RSPCA to say he had been rescued and was safe and well.”

Gizmo was hand-reared and had been with the family since he was three-months old.