Jairam Ramesh, the Indian Environment Minister, has revealed his concern that the magical book and movie series featuring Harry Potter and his owl Hedwig has helped lead to the bird's downfall.
According to the BBC, he said there has been an increasing amount of people wanting to buy them from illegal bird traders.
Ramesh was speaking out about the issue at the launch of a new report on India's owl population.
He said: 'Following Harry Potter, there seems to be a strange fascination even among the urban middle classes for presenting their children with owls.'
A new report by conservation group, Traffic, is calling for tougher measures to look after the owls.
Abrar Ahmed, who wrote the article, said he investigated the issue after one of his friends wanted to get a white-coloured owl for her son's birthday, which was being themed on Harry Potter.
He wrote: 'This was probably one of the strangest demands made to me as an ornithologist.'