The home of Dale and Opal Booen in Demopolis is no longer a bird sanctuary.

A colony of owls have been living in their attic on Main Street since 1993. Their son, Kenneth Hoven, had taken care of the creature’s off-and-on for years, Mrs. Booen said.

Hoven was attempting to do some work in the attic Thursday. The mother owl attacked him, she said, and injured herself hitting one of the rafters trying to escape the attic. The family said the mother owl died trying to fly away from the home.

The son rescued four owl babies from the attic and took them to his home in Greene County. Ann Miller of Auburn University was contacted, and Miller called Johnny and June Smith from a raptor care center in Hoover, Ala. The couple came Thursday to take the four baby owls back to their center.

“I want to tell you how impressed we are with these people…the speed and the trouble they’re going to try to rescue four baby owls,” Opal Booen said.

The Smiths also looked up in the attic for any other creatures. The family thought there were up to 10 babies in the attic, however no more were found. “There are a lot of empty nests,” Johnny Smith said. They did find two eggs.

Mrs. Booen called The Demopolis Times Friday and said the four owl babies were doing just fine in the care of the raptor center officials. The family plans to seal the vent opening where the owls have been able to enter the home for the last decade.