'Angry owl' signs installed in Bush's Pasture Park

The infamous barred owl known for swooping down on runners and sometimes clawing scalps at Bush's Pasture Park in Salem, has not only instilled fear in the hearts of many a jogger, but has also inspired the installation of at least 10 bright orange "angry owl" warning signs at the park on Thursday morning.

Crews with the Salem Parks Operation Division placed signs throughout the nine-acre park Thursday morning after the Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC featured the recent owl attacks in Salem's Bush's Pasture Park on its Feb. 5 broadcast.

During the show, Maddow and producers with MSNBC designed the bright signs for anyone to use, and then sent mock-ups of the signs, as well as digital copies, to the city of Salem.

After securing the rights to reproduce these owl warning signs the city of Salem created about 20 copies to be erected throughout the park.

John Kleeman, a parks operations supervisor was one of two crew members erecting the signs Thursday morning and said he hoped to be able to install 10 signs by the end of the day.

"We're adding the signs to existing posts right now, and replacing old, maybe redundant signs with the owl signs," Kleeman said.

The first "angry owl" warning sign was installed on a post outside of the McCulloch Stadium parking lot near Mission Street SE on the northeastern edge of the park. Sign installation included the addition of special vandal proof fasteners to keep people from stealing the signs.

Each sign will also have a sticker on the back that thanks the Maddow Show and gives credit to its producers, Kleeman said.

Twenty signs were made in total, which will be placed strategically throughout the park.

"We'll put them by a nest on Mission Street, as well as upper and lower Leffelle Street and then sprinkled throughout the rest of the park," Kleenman said. "We want to place them in spots where they'll be most effective."

Employees with the city's parks operation division made a few minor changes to the original sign seen on the Maddow Show and removed the lines placed at the bottom of the sign.

"The two lines at the bottom of the sign that indicate a path were removed," said Tibby Larson, a city of Salem parks volunteer coordinator. "The signs aren't as big as street signs, but it's the same owl and same color as the one on the show."

Cliff Bash was in charge of creating the warning signs and said that about a dozen signs produced straight from the digital file provided by the Maddow Show.

"We debated about the size of the signs for a while, but they're pretty much just like the ones on the show," Bash said. "We got the rights and permission for the show to use the design — it's pretty neat that we're doing this actually."

Several representatives from the city of Salem Parks Operation Division expressed their appreciation for the national coverage, but also for the opportunity to protect the wildlife.

"We do what we can to help nature in the parks," Kleeman said. "We love to celebrate nature when it intersects with the urban community."

Email aroemeling@statesmanjournal.com, call (503) 399 6884 or follow on Twitter @alisharoemeling