Burrowing owl captive breeding program
The BC Wildlife Park, in partnership with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society (BOCS), operates the largest breeding program in the world, and has been working towards saving this species from extirpation in British Columbia, since 1992. The goal of this Species Survival Plan is to achieve a stable and return population of this migratory owl, improve their natural habitat, and educate the public to prevent further habitat loss within British Columbia's grasslands.
about the program
In the early 80’s and up to 1988, the Ministry of Environment translocated owls to BC without much success of those owls returning. In 1989, owls were brought into the BC Wildlife Park's care and by 1990 we had established a breeding program with a new facility specifically designed for breeding this unique owl species. In the early 90’s, owls were bred and 20+ owlets were released into artificial burrows in the grasslands each spring.
These artificial burrows are installed and maintained by volunteers with the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of BC (BOCSBC). There have been over 1200 burrows installed in the wild since 1990; however, with the immense amount of annual maintenance required, some have been replaced or removed. There are approximately 500 artificial burrows that are actively monitored each year.
In 2002 the BC Wildlife Park constructed a larger breeding facility, and increased the offspring production from 20 to 50 each year. As one of three facilities, the Park produces half of the owls released to the wild each year. Our facility and breeding program is so successful that it has been copied by other facilities in North America. The other facilities are run by the BOCS BC found at Port Kells near Vancouver and in Oliver in the South Okanagan (all in BC). All three facilities produce 100 owls a year to release into artificial burrows on private ranches, local indigenous lands, conservancy groups, provincial and federal properties in the Nicola Valley, Kamloops and the South Okanagan.
In 2004, the BC Wildlife Park received an award of excellence from Canada's Accredited Zoos and Aquariums (CAZA) for our captive breeding program. Today, the BC Wildlife Park in partnership with BOCS BC is the largest and most successful breeder of Burrowing Owls in North America.
In 2005, trials were conducted by a student at UBC (Aimee Mitchell RPBio, MSc) to determine if soft-release enclosures would increase the survival and produce more offspring in the wild. In fact, a 50% increase in the released owls’ survival and an 50% increase in the number of wild offspring produced. Aimee’s research led to a complete change in release techniques. Since 2005 the soft-release cages have been used for releasing the pairs of owls bred at the captive facilities. This has led to a dramatic increase in wild Burrowing Owls born in BC.
Since 1991, the British Columbia Wildlife Park with the other facilities have released 1800 owls and over 2600 owls have been born in the wild. Over the last 5 years, BC is beginning to see owls returning in stable numbers, but the population of owls in each location is still not enough to keep a viable genetic diversity. Endangered species recovery is a long process, and especially difficult with a migratory species.
The Burrowing Owls from Canada and the Northern United States will migrate to the Southern United States and Mexico in the Fall and return to the north in Spring. Many owls on the way there and back will perish due to predation from larger raptors, collisions with cars, extreme weather events, lack of burrows and low prey availability.
Tracking the owls
In 1997 owls were given little backpack VHF transmitters and tracked by the Canadian Wildlife Service on their migratory pathway down to New Mexico and California. Over the past decade, more owls have been mounted with new technology backpacks enabled with GPS telemetry transmitters in Alberta and the United States. We are learning more about where they go, and how they migrate than ever before. We are hoping that we can fit the BC owls with these units. However, the cost of $4000 each has made this unlikely in the near future. Until then we continue to communicate with our partners in Canada and the United States on how best to track the owls. Currently we receive information on the BC owls from the bands on their legs. One leg has a green over black band with alpha-numeric lettering on it that can be read from far away. The other leg has a serial number on a silver bad that is recorded into a North American database. If the owl is identified by either of these the BOCS BC is contacted.
It has been said that with the continued encroaching of human settlement into the last of the remaining native grasslands, the only way to keep burrowing owls viable in British Columbia, is to continue to provide artificial burrow systems throughout their natural habitats. With strong partnerships between Conservation Societies, the BOCS BC, Universities, Government and private stakeholders, we can continue to protect this species and assist the global community by adding to the pool of research and knowledge that is growing each year.
What You Can Do
South Okanagan-Similkameen National Park Reserve
What are Grasslands?
Burrowing Owls Return to Nicola Valley
Purchase or invest in grassland. Give to the charity of your choice and tell them you want to protect the remaining 25% of Canada’s most endangered ecosystem: the grasslands!
Although the burrowing owl breeding facility is off display to the public, there is a burrowing owl habitat located inside the Discovery Centre where you can see Bitsy and Radagast, and learn about the differences between a hypomelanistic burrowing owl and a regular one. The burrowing owl habitat is proudly sponsored by Route 1 Distillery.