Your Vancouver Province
Breed spotted owls in cages? Says who?
Best way to save 16 of the threatened birds, special team claims
John Colebourn, The Province
Published: Friday, May 18, 2007
A captive-breeding program is the best way to save roughly 16 northern spotted owls that nest in B.C., says a report prepared for the provincial government.
It said immediate action is needed to save the species from extinction.
A captive-breeding and reintroduction program "is our recommended approach as we believe this is the most valuable population enhancement measure for British Columbia," said the five-year action plan prepared by the Spotted Owl Population Enhancement Team.
"This approach entails removing all or some of the remaining spotted owls from the wild in British Columbia, establishing a captive breeding population and subsequently reintroducing owls from this population to the wild."
Mark Zacharias of B.C.'s Species at Risk Co-ordination office said the report is still being reviewed.
Zacharias said nine areas of about 23,000 hectares have been identified as areas where the owl lives and will be left untouched.
"All existing habitat protection will be honoured. You will need a habitat to put the birds back into."
Joe Foy of the Western Canada Wilderness Committee said it would be "criminally insane" to capture the birds while logging their environment.
He said the committee is concerned that once the owls are removed from their habitats, logging will begin.
"They are logging right now in a key spotted-owl habitat," he said.
The report, he said, "is more politically guided as they were told not to look at habitat protection."
The Sierra Legal Defence Fund is going to court to try to force Ottawa to protect the owls' habitat using the federal Species at Risk Act.
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LIVES IN OLD-GROWTH FORESTS, EATS RODENTS
The spotted owl is mostly chocolate-chestnut brown and, as its name suggests, has round-oval white spots on its head, neck and back.
At night the owl can be identified by its call, which consists of a variety of low-pitched hoots, barks and whistles. Spotted owls rely on old-growth coniferous forests for hunting, nesting and the cool microclimate. Their diet consists of medium-sized rodents.
In 2002, wildlife officials captured a juvenile female and put it in the Grouse Mountain Refuge for Endangered Wildlife.
The owl spent the winter in the refuge but died of starvation when it was re-released into the wild the following spring.