Northern Laos is experiencing the worst rat infestation in 20 years. This has resulted in massive crop failures and leaves thousands of people facing food shortages.
What to do???
Barn Owls are great eaters of rats, so the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization is telling people to leave owls alone and not eat them, and to not practice slash and burn to save owl habitat. Trapping rats is only a short-term solution, and they don't advocate using poison because of the environmental impacts. Go owls!!!
You can read the full article here.
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.
