The Minnesota House of Representatives voted on HF419, a bill to remove Great Horned Owls from Minnesota's "unprotected birds" list, on Monday, May 9. It passed unanimously, 134-0!!
The following is what "Session Daily", reporting news from the House of Representatives, had to say:
Game and Fish
Give a hoot, change the statute Published (5/9/2005)
Alice the great horned owl may have fewer sleepless days, under a bill that unanimously passed the House.
HF419, sponsored by Rep. Ray Cox (R-Northfield), would remove the great horned owl from the state’s unprotected bird list. It aims to clarify the protected status of great horned owls in Minnesota.
The measure now moves to the Senate, where Sen. Thomas M. Neuville (R-Northfield) is the sponsor.
Currently, great horned owls appear on Minnesota’s unprotected birds list, along with such avian cousins as sparrows, blackbirds and pigeons.
Great horned owls are, however, protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Alice’s handler, Houston Nature Center Naturalist Karla Kinstler, testified in committee that the classification is causing confusion among conservation officers.
Audio & Video:Watch the floor session
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Here's hoping all goes well in the Senate too!
Alice the Great Horned Owl is a permanently injured owl who works at the Houston Nature Center in Houston, MN and lives with her handler, Karla Bloem. Rusty and Iris are Great Horned Owls that are both blind in their right eyes and cannot live in the wild. Rusty and Iris are breeding in captivity as part of Karla's vocal study on Great Horned Owls. All together they have led to the creation of an International Owl Center in Houston, MN and an International Festival of Owls.
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