The SORCO raptor rehabilitation centre in Oliver is reminding Okanagan residents of some key ways to prevent the deaths of birds in the community, after seeing an increase of secondary poisonings.
“It's unfortunate that the cases are going up over the last few years,” SORCO manager Dale Belvedere said. “I know it’s happening too often.”
One resident of Trout Creek recently found a deceased Great-horned owl in her yard, prompting a local Facebook group to talk about leaving out poisoned bait to kill rodents. While this owl could not be confirmed to have died from this cause, Belvedere said there are more passing from ingesting poisoned animals.
“We do have one in here right now recovering from secondary poisoning, confirmed,” she said. “It's not only raptors too, but we've also tried to educate the public on this for years. It could be a house cat that eats the rat, so now you have secondary poisoning and what happens is when they eat it, they bleed internally and they hemorrhage.”
“It’s a very slow and painful death and if we don't get them within hours of ingestion of the contaminated rodent, it is a battle. Because they (the birds) go blind, they lose the use of their talons, and they start to shake, they lose body control.”
The process for recovery for the raptors isn’t easy even if they get to them in time.
“It’s a long process too, it takes like four to six weeks on the medication which is very expensive as well, and you never know what the outcomes going to be,” Belvedere added.
Between eight to 10 years ago, SORCO actually released four owls in Trout Creek to help them with the rodent problem, according to Belvedere, but it seems to be an ongoing issue for the area.
“We've always said, ‘Please just use your old-fashioned traps.’ Which aren’t pleasant, I’ll say that, but it doesn't contaminate anything else,” she said.
"We always say raptors are healthy for the eco-system because a raptor will eat one rodent a day, minimum."
Ways to help get rid of rodents are to keep the area around the home clear from attractants, like garbage and open compost.
Other reminders for contributing cases include not leaving clear open windows because the birds see through the glass.
“If you don't have a blind on your window that's closed or you don't have a decal on it, they don't know the glass is there and they hit it and they die. Or break their neck, sometimes they’re just stunned,” Belveder said.
Topless glass railings on a patio are another one of the prime contributors.
To find out more about SORCO or donate to help them continue saving South Okanagan birds of prey, visit their website here.