**3. Owls on the menu**

Although the body of an owl is believed to have some magic power, not everyone in Africa finds eating them agreeable. South African Bantus say: "Asituiwa kuba silixelegu; umzimba waso uzele yinkwethu, into ke leyo sinuka ngathi sifile" (it is not eaten, for it is a slut; its body is full of scurf, which causes it to smell as if it was dead) [23]. But if you are starving, the taste of the food is not the most important issue as is later shown in the case of Sierra Leone.

East Africa is well known for its high wildlife awareness because of the importance of tourism. However, owls are still commonly killed for several reasons. Twelve percent of 51 recorded killings used the owl simply as food or to make condiments, or the killer just wanted to taste the owl meat (**Table 1**).

### *Owls Used as Food and Medicine and for Witchcraft in Africa DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.108913*

In South Africa, 34% of respondents knew people killing owls mainly for traditional medicine and eating reasons (**Table 1**). Some older people refused to answer this question, maybe indicating that in their youth, eating owls was much more common.

In the Gambia, more than half (59 percent) of respondents knew of people killing owls for or against witchcraft, but only 4 percent had witnessed somebody eating owl meat or even had done so themselves (**Table 1**).

Elsewhere in West Africa, most likely dreadful civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia explain that 19% of 75 reported owl killings involved "to be eaten" as the main reason, but owls were killed simply for food also in Senegal and Nigeria. In Sierra Leone alone, 41 percent of the killings were only for food (**Table 1**). Before eating the owl, people just catch them and burn the feathers, put salt, and roast the meat. Creoles of Louisiana, perhaps inheriting dishes from West Africa, used to eat Barred Owls (*Strix varia*)*—*but since no recipes have been handed down, we can only surmise whether the bird was roasted or put in a stew [1].

There are several statements about how very rare owls are still commonly eaten in Africa or the adjacent islands. It is said that the principal threat to the Anjouan Scops Owl (*Otus capnodes*) is the fact that it is still widely captured for food [17]. However, it is too rare to be worthy of special searches, but any owl encountered is usually taken, and hunting can be considered the main threat to its survival [15]. The same fate concerns the Grande Comore Scops Owl (*O. pauliani*) [16] and Mohéli Scops Owl (*Otus moheliensis*) (**Table 2** and **Figure 1**).

Nigeria got a lot of global publicity when in Ebu State in October 1997, a fisherman was seen eating a rare and vulnerable Rufous Fishing Owl (*Bubo ussheri*) [18, 19]. He admitted taking advantage of a soaked owl rendered unable to fly in the early morning.

#### **Figure 1.**

*Critically endangered Mohéli Scops Owl (Otus moheliensis) tied with a rope before being eaten. Photo: Courtesy of René-Marie Lafontaine.*

The owl was killed after being hit with the paddle. The fisherman claimed that the Rufous Fishing Owl was common in the area. Since that killing, he has turned out to be a converted protectionist of this globally threatened owl species in the area [24].

A comprehensive study of owls and humans was made in Malawi [5, 24, 25], and it seems that the owl meat is mainly used for bewitching and killing people, but not so much for eating as food. Every fourth of 147 respondents knew people who were believed to eat owls, and one out of ten had seen people eating owls. Males more often witnessed such happenings than females. Owl eaters existed both in cities, like Lilongwe, and in typical villages, but often, northern respondents felt that owls were eaten in southern and central regions only and naturally *vice versa*. Half of the interviewed people knew somebody who had killed or sacrificed an owl. Therefore, killing and sacrificing owls is much more common than eating them for food. Again, males were more aware of the killings than females [5].
