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The
Hawk Conservancy Trust
Charity No: 1092349 - Company No: 4304161 |
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Sarson Lane, Weyhill, Andover, Hampshire. SP11 8DY,
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1264 773850. Fax: +44 (0) 1264 773772. Email info@hawkconservancy.org |
Every year The Hawk Conservancy Trust can receive up to 30 wild young Tawny Owls, the bulk of which arrive during May. Our mission when this happens is to ensure that the young owls are fit to be released back into the wild when old enough. That means absolute minimal human contact. It is essential that they should retain their fear of humans and not see humans as a food provider. Chicks that are not old enough to feed themselves are placed with other owls - as closely related as possible - and are foster-reared. As soon as the chicks are able to feed themselves they are kept into a crèche with other young Tawny Owls until they are ready for release and able to fend for themselves. They are then released into a safe area in the wild.
The Hawk Conservancy Trust firmly believes that its responsibility to the young Tawny Owls extends beyond release of the individuals back to the wild. As a result, between 2005 and 2007, in a joint project with the RSCPA at West Hatch in Somerset, we used post-release monitoring by radio-tracking to measure survival and compare this with wild Tawny Owls.
This part of our Tawny Owl project has finished, and the results can be found here. Results indicate that survival of the rehabilitated owls did not differ significantly from wild owls.
The second stage of the Trust’s Tawny Owl project is investigate the extent to which rehabilitated owls use post-release support (food and shelter). This area of work is ongoing, and will run from 2008 to 2010.
Once the second stage of the project is complete, a report will be published and made available here for interested people.
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Copyright © 1996-2010 The Hawk Conservancy Trust. All rights reserved worldwide. |
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A web site last modified on
Saturday, 31 July, 2010 |
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