The Overlander Ski Club south of Kamloops says it anticipates its “owl problem” should likely solve itself in the not-too-distant future.

General Manager Chelsea Francis says the biologists they’ve consulted suggest the Great Horned Owl which has been dive-bombing cross-country skiers and snowshoers this week is likely going to leave on its own.

“The biologists are thinking that at this point he’ll probably move on within a week,” said Francis.  “It is a little early for nesting season, so he’s likely just hunting and getting ready for that.”

Francis says the aggressive bird isn’t likely to impact their overall season.

“We’re having the third-best year on-record since we opened, closely contending with 2016, which was a huge snow year.  So, we’re doing quite well,” said Francis.  “The cold snap, of course, was not a super-busy time for us, which is a bummer, because it was Christmas break, but we’ve had lots of other really, really big weeks out here.”

She says the warm weather is also not having much of an impact on their operations.

“The conditions have been amazing this year,” said Francis.  “One of the best winters in the 7 year’s I’ve been here, especially since were able to open in November.”

Overlander has been forced to close four of its trails during the evenings due to the owl, which attacked five different people on Wednesday, sending four of them to Royal Inland at the same time with minor injuries.

— With files from Brett Mineer and Victor Kaisar