TWITTER WATCH: Palace Theatre Sign Assures No Live Owls in HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD

As reported by BroadwayWorld, during Tuesday night's preview performance of HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD at the West End's Palace Theatre, an owl, which makes a brief flight during a scene, escaped into the theater rather than returning to its handler.

As a result of the incident, the show's producers have decided to remove live birds from the production, a move that was welcomed by PETA's director Mimi Bekhechi, who says, "Harry Potter can now join the ranks of innovative stage productions like WAR HORSE, THE LION KING and RUNNING WILD, which prove that animals need not be exploited for the theater, and that the possibilities of prop design are limited only by our own creativity."

In order to prove the realistic creativity of the production's designers, the notice below, posted by a Twitter user, has been displayed at the theatre:

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is a new play by Jack Thorne, directed by John Tiffany. It will receive its world premiere in London's West End at the Palace Theatre this summer and is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage.