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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