Calgary Zoo starts program to try to save endangered burrowing owls

CALGARY – The Calgary Zoo has embarked on an innovative project aimed at saving one of Canada’s endangered owls.

It says the population of burrowing owls, which are small and lives in the ground, is declining about 15 per cent each year.

The zoo’s director of conservation, Dr. Axel Moehrenschlager, says since the 1990s, the owl population have plummeted about 90 per cent and the burrowing owl is the fastest declining bird of prey in Canada.

The youngest owls from each nest rarely survive and 15 of them have been rescued.

They’ll be cared for at the zoo over the winter months and then be released back into the wild to breed next spring and their movements will be tracked through satellite.

The project is a partnership between the Calgary Zoo, Environment and Climate Change Canada Canadian Wildlife Service, and Alberta Environment and Parks.

(CFFR)