04/11/2025
It's 11pm on a Saturday night and I'm sitting on my couch, in my tree house, drinking coffee and writing a follow up story about the deceased owl found in Coca-Cola's factory.
I wasn't sure how to start the story, there is so much to say, but I do hope that you will take the time to read it and leave us a comment with your own take on things.
I thought that I should maybe start with some sort of credentials to introduce myself to those of you who don't know me yet. So, I typed the following question to Google Gemini
"If there was one single owl rescuer that you would ask to rescue an owl trapped within a Coca-Cola bottling plant on this planet, who would that person be and why?"
Google's answer:
"This is a fascinating and highly specific scenario! For a single owl rescuer to handle the complexities of a bird trapped inside an active industrial facility like a Coca-Cola bottling plant anywhere on the planet, I would choose Brendan Murray of the Owl Rescue Centre in South Africa"
So for tonight, and tonight only, I'm going to wear that badge; out of 8 billion people, an artificial intelligence robot chose me to rescue that owl.
I'm going to start on the morning of the 8th October at 8am when a lady from Paramount Pest Control called us to assist with rescuing an owl trapped in CCBSA's plant in Midrand. We agreed to help, but were informed a short while later by the same lady, that the owl had been killed.
We then contacted Chief Inspector Douglas Wolhuter from the NSPCA asking him to investigate what had transpired. We wanted an autopsy to be performed on the owl and we wanted to view the CCTV footage.
We believed it was a reasonable request. After the initial two calls from the pest controller, she also asked in a WhatsApp voice message that Coca-Cola was inquiring about which species are protected species that they can't touch.
She said that Minky, who according to her is a manager at Coca-Cola, was asking if we could provide info on a list of protected birds and the protocols to have them removed from site, so that this type of incident doesn't happen again.
I informed her that all our owl species in South Africa are protected, which means it's a criminal offense to harm or kill any of them.
We asked to collect the deceased owl.
She then asked in a another message if I'm affiliated with Owl Sanctuary at all, and then later I received another message from her that read: "We have been instructed by CCBSA to no longer engage with you due to a signed POPI Act agreement." That was the last time we spoke.
Two days later on the 10th of October, Inspector Jason from NSPCA messaged us asking for the contact details and address for CCBSA'S plant. Which we gave to him.
On the 23rd of October, almost two weeks later, I sent Jason a voice message asking if they had any updates. He replied that they had met with Coca-Cola, spoken to their staff, and that they had received the autopsy report from the vet, but the CCTV footage wasn't available to be viewed yet.
I thought this was really strange, as I have used CCTV footage many times when I'm doing rescues in plants similar to this to find missing owls. I would just ask to check the CCTV footage to see where the owl flew and where he's hiding, and I'll then go get him. On no occasion did I need to wait 2 weeks to view footage. An hour maybe, but never 2 weeks.
Then, five days later, on the 28th of October at 8am I was driving to a rescue in Johannesburg when I hear on Hot 102.7 news that Coca-Cola had been cleared of any wrong doings.
The NSPCA had viewed the CCTV footage and the owl had allegedly died after it collided with a window. I immediately called Doug and asked him about the footage. He replied that the NSPCA in fact hadn't seen the footage yet, but were on their way at that precise time to CCBSA to view it.
Once again, I find this pretty strange; radio news is reporting on something that hasn't happened yet, but ironically happens two days later, we find out.
Its also on this call to Doug that I mention that I've done thousands of owl rescues within factories and warehouses and not once have I witnessed a Barn owl injure or kill itself against a window. They're raptors, their anatomy is different to other birds, they're built for impact. Many times owls will hunt in the pitch dark on sound alone, and during many of these hunts they have hard impacts with hard objects which they come out of unharmed.
I also mentioned to Doug to check if the footage is actually legit and not Ai and to check the window and door they mentioned, because I don't believe these bottling plants have external windows.
In Coca-Cola's statement which was shared with us by a reporter earlier, it stated that the owl flew into a glass window and a glass door "in an attempt to find a way out". Doug replied that he knew exactly what tell tale signs to look out for. He also said he would let me know his findings after the meeting.
At 15h45 the same day I messaged him asking for an update. But there was no response. Two days later while up on a rescue on the Botswana border I receive a call from a reporter from one of our leading news agencies. He asked if I'd seen NSPCA's Facebook post where they released their statement and findings. They have indeed ruled out any human involvement.
According to him, Coca-Cola refused to share the CCTV footage with anyone, which could have cleared them long before this story even became newsworthy.
Going back to a bit earlier in the story, I have to clarify something first. The reason why we reported the incident to the NSPCA and posted about this on social media, was not to shame an organization for a tragic loss of an owl to yet another man-made reason, but for corporate accountability when it comes to the protection of our wildlife and biodiversity.
It was a post advocating for better wildlife policies and greater corporate responsibility across the board. We wanted to demonstrate why mandatory ethical wildlife management protocols and regulations in companies are important and why wildlife education must form part of basic training.
Protecting our biodiversity is a shared national responsibility. In South Africa, across the board, our raptor (birds of prey) population have declined by 70% over the last 35 years. We are facing a mass extinction of our raptors. We understand that this is only one owl, but we are fighting a larger battle.
A big corporate company such as Coca-Cola has a massive footprint, and therefore accountability for their impact is hugely important.
The NSPCA statement absolved Coca-Cola from any accountability. This is where my expertise would've been useful in their investigation, as I have years of experience on this very thing. I again reiterate that in the thousands of owl rescues we've done in warehouses, factories and buildings, not once have any of those owls died from a window strike.
The statement reads that the Barn Owl was observed on the night of 7th of October flying inside the building. It states that the contracted 'bird' control service provider, which is the same pest control company that I spoke to the next morning, was contacted for assistance.
On the night of the 7th, the owl flew into, what was now referred to by the NSPCA as an internal glass windowpane, at 22h35 and continued flying. There is no mention of what happened before the owl flew into the window, only of the window strike itself. Was the owl chased? Was he perhaps struck by an object that disorientated him that led to this collision? The owl is then observed on the CCTV again at 00h24 on the 8th of October. This time, it allegedly collided 'heavily' with another glass door and fell to the ground, 'appearing injured' in a corner of a room.
The statement continues that the owl briefly regained consciousness sometime thereafter, but there's no reference made to when it lost consciousness. Almost exactly two hours later it is found deceased by an employee.
The statement becomes somewhat vague from the time when the owl was last observed alive at 00h24 and the time the owl is found deceased at 02h20.
An employee finds the owl at 02h20, but we are called at 08h12 by Coca-Cola's pest control contractor on the morning of 8 October to rescue the same owl...
In conclusion, we have the following concerns:
• The pest control company who was involved and contracted by Coca-Cola, had subsequently been referred to as a 'bird' control company in follow-up reports. This, in our opinion is deceitful about who the actual contractor was and their mandate in dealing with such cases. Coca-Cola are aware of the correct organizations to contact for wildlife and they're also well aware that we've done dozens of rescues at their plants. As demonstrated above, a simple Google search would've confirmed it.
Pest control companies should not be contracted to deal with wildlife. Even if you dress up their names, they lack the necessary expertise, training, and legal mandate to work with wildlife. This statement is not intended to be a criticism of the pest service company involved. We in fact commend them for their appropriate action in contacting us.
• There are several discrepancies in the final report, which is inconsistent with our investigation. Coca-Cola is praised for their full cooperation throughout the NSPCA investigation, speaking of transparency and willingness to engage. However, during our inquiries early on in the investigation a NSPCA representative confirmed that they are battling to get hold of the Coca-Cola management for their inquiry. We were told that Coca-Cola cuts any calls when they hear it's someone from the NSPCA on the line. The NSPCA spokesperson was also quoted saying that Coca-Cola cuts their calls, in an article published by The Citizen on the 14th of October. Also, taking almost three weeks to allow the inspector to view the cctv footage in my book is not being very cooperative.
• The autopsy report reveals trauma consistent with impact, most significantly lesions in this case was the severe bleeding inside the skull. It also mentions severe bruising of the cancellous bone. The vet states in his report (we have a copy on file) that it is difficult to speculate as to what may have caused this injury. "A contusion from some sort of blunt force trauma (natural or otherwise) is possible," it reads. Therefore the statement by the NSPCA that there is no evidence of deliberate harm is a stretch of the truth. The autopsy could not rule out this possibility.
• Apart from the fact that I have never seen it myself, I also consulted with some colleagues in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and raptor experts, who all confirmed that they have never seen an owl die from a window collision. I also couldn't find any published evidence of a similar case anywhere on the internet. We would've valued the opportunity to review the CCTV footage ourselves for research purposes.
• When someone is absolved from any responsibility, you essentially eliminate the necessity for them to change. When accountability is removed, so is the primary motivation for self-reflection and improvement, which means that no meaningful change will be made. Unfortunately our past experience with this company is not pleasant, nor is it consistent with a company that values wildlife, the environment and our biodiversity. We can only hope that this incident has highlighted the need for permanent change in their attitude towards wildlife conservation.
The widespread response from the public should serve as proof of how much value South Africans and consumers place on wildlife protection and environmental responsibility.
We wish to thank NSPCA for their assistance and time in this matter.
Thanks for reading guys😉
