A PAIR of breeding barn owls have been snatched from their foster home, leaving behind five unhatched eggs.

The owls, called Angel and Willow, have been cared for in a purpose-built aviary at Tracy Dyball's home, in Welling, for the past 18 months.

Mrs Dyball, 43, a volunteer with the South Essex Wildlife Hospital, says some of the blame lies with the Harry Potter books.

"Harry Potter has done owls no favours. Now everyone wants an owl as a pet and people think they must be easy to look after."

She says whoever took the owls from her garden in Selsey Crescent last Wednesday night must have known what they were doing.

"They would be quite difficult to catch for someone not used to handling birds and would have made quite a noise," said Mrs Dyball.

The family also has two dogs, a rottweiler and an old English mastiff, and neither dog was alerted by the thieves.

"The owls were born in captivity and both were ringed and have been hand-reared," said Mrs Dyball. "It has taken me all this time to get them used to being handled, and I have become very attached to them."

"But you cannot just take them and put them in a cage. They have to be fed properly, weighed regularly and their feet cleaned and cared for."

People also have to be licensed to keep owls.

Mrs Dyball said: "They make a noise at night, screeching when they need to be fed, so anyone would soon know if a neighbour was keeping them."

Mrs Dyball has already alerted Eagle Heights, the birds-of-prey centre in Eynsford, which is now spreading the word among enthusiasts about the missing owls.

But even if they are found, it will not help the five eggs left behind, which will now never hatch.

"I don't think the thieves could have seen the eggs," said Mrs Dyball.

She has appealed to anyone who knows anything about the stolen birds to call Bexleyheath police on 020 8284 9144.