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Owls at the Harry Potter ­studio tour are cruelly kept in cages and ­terrified by ­music and camera flashes, animal rights campaigners claim.

Secret footage shot by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals shows the birds in tiny pens chewing their tethers, shaking their heads and apparently being made to do tricks for the crowds.

A trainer at The Making of Harry Potter tour also allegedly told visitors to buy their own owls, ­claiming they are inexpensive and “do not have to have a licence”.

Peta director Mimi Bekhechi, told the Sunday People : “Confining frightened owls to tiny cages where they can only chew at their tethers in frustration goes against every message of respect and kindness that JK Rowling’s ­wonderful books taught us.”

(Image: PETA)

She said the three-year-old theme park in Leavesden, Hertfordshire – visited by about 5,000 fans a day – should “stay magical, not cruel ” by excluding live animals.

Potter fans can pay to meet Harry’s owl, Hermione’s cat and other ­animals from the film franchise, which stars Daniel Radcliffe as a boy wizard.

In a letter to Warner Brothers , which runs the tour, Peta’s Yvonne Taylor claimed: “The ‘trainers’ supervising the tour showed gross negligence both in handling the birds and in ensuring public safety.

“As well as the tricks, they actively encouraged flash photography.

(Image: PETA)

“Owls have especially acute vision and find blinding camera flashes extremely distressing – this can be seen in Peta’s footage as they respond by desperately chewing at their ­tethers and shaking their heads.

“A trainer cajoled people to touch the frightened birds, ignoring signs telling people not to touch the birds.

"As experts will tell you, as well as being stressful for the owls, this also interferes with the natural oils in their feathers that keep them warm.

“One trainer tells visitors, ‘Please don’t touch the owl... I have to say that!’ even though these powerful and extremely ­agitated birds could easily have ­injured someone.

(Image: PETA)

“When asked whether the owls actually like to be touched, the ­trainer ignorantly dismissed visitors’ ­concerns by saying, ‘He doesn’t really care. They don’t understand it’.”

A tour spokeswoman said the owls’ “welfare is of ­paramount importance to us and they are ­exclusively handled by the experts at Birds & Animals, which owns and trains them”.

A spokesman for Birds & Animals said: “The welfare of our birds and animals is our number one priority and we take every measure to ensure they stay stress-free and healthy.

“During their ­appearance at the studio tour the owls were given ­regular breaks, they were not ­exposed to any ­situations that would make them ­distressed and they were checked by a vet.”

(Image: Reuters)

But Dr Andrew Kelly, ex-head of the RSPCA wildlife department, said: “From the footage it’s my ­opinion this is not an appropriate venue.

"These are wild animals – the lights and the noise and the handling will be stressful for them.”

Potter ­author JK Rowling previously warned against keeping owls.

She told fans: “If anybody has been influenced by my books to think an owl would be happiest shut in a small cage and kept in a house, I would like to say as forcefully as I can, ‘You are wrong’.”