WARNING: THIS IS A CONTROVERSIAL AND SENSITIVE POST We do not normally post things like this, but when we received these disturbing photos from a concerned member of the public recently, we were left with no option but to act. We are often approached and asked if it is possible to buy an owl to help with a rodent problem – the answer is always the same, NO! Our organization is regularly mistaken for another company who sells owls in an “Owl Box Project” under the banner of conservation. This company is called EcoSolutions and is the same company that release owls on an ongoing basis into Alexandra (a township just outside of Sandton) where owls are STILL persecuted due to superstitious cultural believes. The owls for the project are supplied by FreeMe Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre. We’ve approached FreeMe’s Head of Rehabilitaiton, Nicci Wright, numerous times over the past years to voice our concerns. We’ve explained to Nicci that the way these owls are kept and released is not the correct way. This project is not in the best interest of the owls, but rather seems to be motivated by financial gain. According to a recent news article, City of Johannesburg has now allocated another R2.5 million for this project. Nicci Wright from FreeMe dismissed our concerns. She responded by saying, “I don’t want to talk to you about that”. She claimed that there is nothing we or anyone else can tell her about owls. Here are our concerns: 1. These owls are brought into FreeMe by the public and then passed on to EcoSolutions who then sells the owls to a third party. There does not seem to be any screening process of who gets to buy these owls. The owls become the responsibility of someone who has no knowledge or experience on caring for a wild animal. 2. The boxes used to keep these owls in (between 4 to 6 weeks) and used in the release is not adequate. It is ten times smaller than the minimum enclosure size that is required as per Nature & Environment Conservation Regulations. A wild animal by regulation needs to have fresh water supplied every day and enclosures should be cleaned daily – there is no source of water in these EcoSolutions boxes and from the pictures it is evident that they are not cleaned. 3. The owls are released in an area where they are unwanted and harmed. No consideration is given to the wellbeing of these birds. 4. We are concerned about the success of this project. If the process of releasing owls into the same area needs to be repeated every few months, what is happening to the owls that were released in Alexandra previously? 5. This is not the correct method for releasing owls. EcoSolutions claims this owl box project is based on The Peregrine Fund’s project and this is how it is sold to the unsuspecting public. We took the liberty of contacting The Peregrine Fund. Their response was quite the contrary. They too disagree with this method of releasing owls. The source who sent us these pictures told us that a few people noticed a terrible stench emanating from the EcoSolutions Owl Box that was installed on a premises of participants. They climbed up and this is what they discovered. It appears that the box was filled with hundreds of day-old chickens as food for the owls. The chicks were so badly rotten and decomposing that there were maggots everywhere. The owls were locked inside this box in these conditions and could not escape. The box was broken open and the poor owls were taken to another rehab facility for treatment. Locking a bird in box like this under these circumstances will only result in its death. This is not an isolated case. We’ve received many complaints similar to the above and some even worse about this EcoSolutions project over the last years. On Monday, we requested a meeting with FreeMe, GDARD (Nature Conservation Gauteng) and NSPCA to address this serious matter. Nature Conservation – No reply. FreeMe – Declined. NSPCSA – Declined. We didn’t want to take these drastic measures; we thought we could rather talk to them face to face. They were not interested in listening to us. Wildlife does not belong to any one person or organization – A rehabilitation centre is there to rehabilitate and release wildlife back into its natural environment, they shouldn’t be allowed to pass it on to someone else who sells it for a profit. This is not the first time we attempted to get Nature Conservation and NSPCA involved to stop this project. What we’ve come to realize is that FreeMe have special connections within these governing bodies that basically gives them cart blanche to do as they want. They have even pulled a few strings to block us from getting our relevant permits in Gauteng. We’ve spoken to many wildlife rehabilitation centres who are all scared to stand up against them. We’ve laid another formal complaint with NSPCA. Rumor has it that individuals within GDARD (Nature Conservation) wants to ensure that all owls brought into any rehabilitation centre goes to this project. Owl Rescue Centre is a Non-Profit Organisation and only acts to the benefit of owls! We need your help to stop this unfair practice of wildlife trade. Please share this to get them to stop!
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 06:33:06 +0000
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