Owly

The vast majority of eagle-owls live in Continental Europe, Scandinavia, Russia (which is almost certainly where the peak numbers and diversity of race occurs), and Central Asia. Additional minor populations exist in Anatolia, the northern Middle East, the montane upper part of South Asia, China, Korea and in Japan; in addition, an estimated 12 to 40 pairs are thought to reside in the United Kingdom as of 2016 (where they are arguably non-native), a number which may be on the rise, and have successfully bred in the UK since at least 1996. Tame eagle-owls have occasionally been used in pest control because of their size to deter large birds such as gulls from nesting.