The animals in ME

[Birdland]

I'm rather concerned about the possibility of a flock of rampaging Second Age Saurionic killer sheep, but there you go

No, Rumil! Everyone knows that sheep go to Valinor, goats go to the Void.

I'm guessing, like everything else in the book, Tolkien based his choice of animals on Northern European mythology. I know swans, ravens, dragons, horses were all powerful animal spirits. (Didn't Odin ride an eight-legged horse?)

I notice the owl didn't rate a mention in Tolkien's work - good or evil - though it is popular in Celtic myth.