DECATUR, Ga. — It's owl over, at last.
The nearly weeklong saga at Agnes Scott College over its closed library due to an owl that had taken up residence - after flying in through the chimney - was resolved Friday with the owl's release outside.
The school had gone as far as bringing in professional falconers to try and coax the owl out of McCain Library. Since the owl - which students had dubbed Edgar Owlen Poe - got in Monday, they had not had success and the library had remained closed.
11Alive's Tracey Amick-Peer received video Friday of the owl being released outside the library.
A student, Natalie Slaughter, told 11Alive she was in the library when the owl swooped in - somehow avoiding getting burned by the active fire in the fireplace.
“I turned around and this owl is looking at me and I’m looking at the owl and the owl is looking at my friend and I like, freak out,” said Slaughter.
Master Falconer Stewart Farron of Action Critter Removal explained the removal would be tricky with an owl because it takes a while for them to get hungry.
"They’re hunters and they’ve got lots of food in them right now," he said.
Students had created memes and gotten into the fun of the situation - for a while.
“So we’re calling it 'owlgate' and thought it was really funny,” said Slaughter.
Eventually the shine wore off - quite literally, as the owl did what owls do (all over the tables and carpet) and the students grew tired of being locked out of the library.
But, you know what they say - owl's well that ends well.