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A man walks into a bank with a live barn owl as a deposit.

That sounds like the opening line of a joke, but it is something that actually happened here in our very own precious country.

TimesLIVE reported that everyone at the Absa branch in Gauteng was dumbfounded when the amusing character walked in, attempting to open a bank account using the wide-eyed bird as a deposit.

Naturally, the bank had to decline this odd request, explaining that they could only accept legal tender. At this point, the feathered friend was whisked away by the Owl Rescue Centre so that it could avoid being sold to the Big Man again.

Absa confirmed the unusual request was made last Wednesday at a branch in Westonaria.

“As a trusted banking partner servicing customers from all walks of life over many years, we are committed to supporting our customers even when it comes to unusual life situations because every story matters,” said a spokesperson.

“We can confirm a customer approached our Westonaria branch on April 24 wanting to open a bank account and offering a live owl as a deposit. Given that we are a financial institution, and we only accept legal tender as deposits, we were unable to assist the customer, and cannot comment on the customer’s rationale for his approach.”

The customer must have walked straight out of some bygone bartering era only to be shocked that we’re living in a time of bank cards and Bitcoin.

The Absa branch immediately enlisted the assistance of the Owl Rescue Centre and “saved the life of a beautiful owl because owl stories matter too,” the spokesperson said. They took the rescue further, with another good deed:

“While we don’t accept animals, or livestock, as deposits, we are thrilled to announce Birdlife South Africa will soon be one of our Absa Rewards beneficiaries to which customers can donate through our free Absa Rewards programme.”

The Hartbeespoort Dam-based animal rescuer Brendan Murray said they have had “stranger rescues and more difficult ones” if you can believe it.

“My wife Danelle started Owl Rescue in Harties about 15 years ago. Since then almost not a day has gone by without us being called out to rescue some sort of animal.”

Murray held the barn owl for its dear life at Absa after being alerted to its predicament:

Image: Owl Rescue Centre/Facebook

Murray reckons the man wanted to sell the owl, originally, having stopped over at a “muti shop close to the bank” where the owner apparently also said they don’t buy live animals.

“From there, he went to the bank,” he confirmed.

The rescuer said that there seem to be a lot of people who believe it is okay to catch wild animals and sell them to businesses.

“We were called a while back by a pawnshop in Hillbrow. When I arrived there was an owl sitting at the entrance in a gilded cage from the 1980s.”

Him and his wife also recently helped relocate an owl from Saudi Arabia to an animal rehab centre in Turkey.

[source:timeslive]