Sofi Hindmarch of Canada is trying to reduce the poisoning of owls by rat poison. Somebody posted a link to her work in an online environmental news magazine on Birding-aus in December last year. I sent her some info about Yossi Leshem. Her response: Thank you so much for sending me the link to Yossi’s work in Israel, based on the webpage it sounds like a great project. I like the fact that he also tries to change the attitudes towards owls, unfortunately in many parts of the world owls don’t have the best reputation. There is a similar project conducted in South Africa, there they have placed nestboxes in school yards to reduce rodent numbers and most important avoid the use of rat poison which unfortunately also is the reason several children die in South Africe every year Check out: http://www.ecosolutions.co.za/township-owl-project As for whether similar measures could be put in place her in Vancouver, BC I would say absolutely. We have over the years installed several boxes and the local farm trust has manged to raise money to install 30 new boxes this year. The challenge is to also reduce the amount of rat poison applied on the land where the owls hunt. In industrial areas around the city there is a lot of businesses that use rat poison, but through our work talking to owners about the risk of secondary rat poisoning of owls and other options for controlling rats i.e. cleaner alleys, don’t leave food around, secure the building for rodents etc some business people are changing their ways. There are also some that have even put up boxes in the hope that an owl might live in the building to control rats.
Sofi Hindmarch, Research Assistant Centre for Wildlife Ecology Simon Fraser University Burnaby, BC CANADA V5A 1S6 Phone: (778) 238-7380 Webpage: http://www.sfu.ca/biology/wildberg/sofi/index.htm
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