Endangered species in good hands

By Myrna MacDonald

Intern Lara Cusack, left, reaches into one of the centre’s burrows to capture an owl with the help of student Angelica Galezowski. Photo by Myrna MacDonald

A group of fourth-year students from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM) traveled to Moose Jaw on Nov. 3 to gain some hands-on experience with one of Canada’s endangered bird species – the burrowing owl.

The trip to the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre (SBOIC) was the final activity in the students’ two-week zoological, exotic and wildlife medicine clinical rotation. They were supervised by Dennilyn Parker, assistant professor of avian, exotics and wildlife medicine in WCVM’s Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences. Resident Alana Shrubsole and clinical intern Lara Cusack, who are both taking specialized training in avian, exotics and wildlife medicine, also helped the students throughout their work at the centre.

During the field visit, fourth-year students Alice Chan, Anna Wallace, Angelica Galezowski and Sharon Pydee worked with Parker, Shrubsole, Cusack and the centre’s staff members to capture the wild owls in the indoor and outdoor aviaries. Once inside, the WCVM team carefully examined the birds’ wings, eyes, ears, abdominal space, legs and feet for potential problems, then weighed the owls before releasing them.

Clinical teams from WCVM have conducted physical examinations on the centre’s burrowing owls for more than two years. The centre is home to more than a dozen owls that were injured or are classed as non-releasable birds. The SBOIC also operates an outreach program that allows Saskatchewan students and residents to learn more about the endangered species and to meet one of the centre’s imprinted owls during school and community visits.

According to the Canadian Wildlife Service, there were fewer than 500 breeding pairs of burrowing owls in 2003, and population numbers have been declining in Canada at a rate of approximately 20 per cent per year in the past decade. For more information about the species, visit www.sboic.ca.

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Myrna MacDonald works in Communications in the Dean’s Office, WCVM.

 

A portrait of a burrowing owl.	Fourth-year veterinary student Anna Wallace holds one of the owls.

 

Anala, being held by intern Lara Cusack, is a burrowing owl well known to WCVM clinicians who treated the bird’s left eye when it was critically injured.		WCVM student Alice Chan leaves the centre’s outdoor aviary with a captured owl.
		Photos by Myrna MacDonald