We have seen an incredible amount of barred owls come through the centre late 2018 and the past two months. Three weeks ago we admitted 3 in two days – all hit by cars. One theory is that there was a surge in population due to little snow last winter. This made hunting for small rodents easier than usual for the barred owls. Plus human factors such as people throwing litter out of car windows attracting rodents to the sides of the road to scavenge, attracting owls to the sides of the roads to hunt, making them susceptible to being hit by cars. So PLEASE keep an eye out when driving and don’t throw litter, organic or not, out the car window. After all – it IS illegal and could result in a fine and perhaps a deadly cost to our wildlife.
Barred owl rehabilitating at The CWRC