The Harry Potter film sparked the craze

In the movie, released on video and DVD on Saturday, the young wizard Harry has a snowy owl called Hedwig.

Sheila from the Capricorn Animal Sanctuary in Penyffordd, Flintshire said: "The boy tried keeping her as a pet, he was feeding her on burgers and roast beef and she was very ill - she was dying.

"Luckily his mother realised something was wrong and we took her on.

"She's made a full recovery but she can never be released. They do not make good pets."

The youngster had bought the owl as a pet after he saw an advert in a pet shop window.

They don't make good pets because they need a lot of space, to keep an owl in good condition she needs 30-50 feet of space to fly

Sheila Stewart Capricorn Animal Sanctuary

Animal campaigners have joined forces to warn youngsters and their parents why the birds do not make good pets.

Melita Gibson from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds(RSPB) said: "We have had quite a lot of calls from people wanting to buy owls.

"It comes in stages when 101 Dalmations was released people wanted to buy a dalmation."

She added: "Young owls can be sweet when they are young but when they are older they are very different.

"Snowy owls in particular are one of the hardest breeds to learn to fly and they are extremely nervous creatures too."

Constant attention

Owls can live up to 40 or 50-years-of age and need constant attention.

There are no snowy owls living wild in the UK but latest research has shown that the number of barn owls living outside captivity has increased.

In the late 1980s, numbers fell to an all-time low of fewer than 4,000 breeding pairs, a 70% drop in 50 years.

But latest findings suggest that nesting boxes installed on the banks of rivers have halted the decline.

Mrs Stewart will now keep five month old Igor but she says she would not advise anyone to buy an owl as a pet or present.

"They don't make good pets because they need a lot of space, to keep an owl in good condition she needs 30-50 feet of space to fly.

"She needs four or five dead chicks a day to feed on, she has to have water to bathe in and she has to be handled to keep her tame."