Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA Opens Its Doors to Vulnerable Baby Owls
The baby owls in our care likely wouldn't survive without our care. Once they are grown, they will be released into the wild.
Imagine losing your home and not being able to provide the food your babies need to survive. Sadly, local burrowing owls are facing this scenario. Rampant development and encroachment on their native habitats and hunting grounds are causing the populations of burrowing owls to plummet at alarming rates. A majority of burrowing owls don't even survive into adulthood. These birds need help and they need it now.
As an open door shelter, we do not turn our back on any animal, including wildlife. And we most certainly couldn't say "no" when an opportunity to help local burrowing owls presented itself through a partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency.
As one of the first animal shelters in the nation to have an on-site kitten nursery to help motherless and underaged kittens, we know a thing or two about saving baby animals. Therefore, it made complete sense for us to create a brand-new nursery specifically for burrowing owl babies.
We care for baby burrowing owls in a brand-new nursey, created specifically for them.
Our Wildlife Care Center staff and volunteers have turned an outdoor aviary on the rooftop of our Center for Compassion in Burlingame into a burrowing owl nursery, complete with specially constructed "burrows" for them. The aviary is protected from the elements and predators.
The Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency has monitored various local nests and carefully selected a few of the owlets from each nest and brought them to us to raise. These babies are the smaller ones in the nests and would more than likely not survive in the wild. We will then care for and raise the removed owlets in our nursery until they are adults and return them to the wild next spring.
By "head-starting" the baby owls, we are giving this diminishing species a chance to thrive in the wild. With our care, the owls from our nursery will be strong, healthy and hopefully will breed successfully to help increase the number of burrowing owls in the wild.
These animals need our help and it is an honor to participate in a new chapter of the burrowing owls' story. Our new owl nursery is funded entirely by donations. If you would like to support this effort and help us save the burrowing owls, you can donate online. To learn how you can ensure your support of these and other animals in our care continues well into the future, contact Lisa Van Buskirk at Lvanbuskirk@phs-spca.org or 650-340-7022, Ext. 327.
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