Brendan Murray, member of the Owl Rescue Centre, said the organisation had received several complaints from the public reporting incidents of abuse of the owls that were released into the township.
“We receive ongoing complaints from many informal areas but in Alex the owls are being released where they wouldn’t naturally occur and that that is perpetuating the problem,” Murray said.
According to Murray, the owls were being mutilated, decapitated and their eyes were gouged.
Murray said he had been into Alexandra where he found maimed owls; some which were still alive and were collected by the organisation.
However, he said that these attacks were ongoing and the owls collected by the organisation made up only one percent of the incidents.
An Alex resident, who is a contact on the Alex News Blackberry, said residents were killing the owls because they believed the birds were used for witchcraft.
The owl programme was introduced in 2012 as part of the city council’s plan to eradicate rats in informal areas.
Last month, the city council announced its R2.5 million plan to fight the rat infestation, which included the use of barn owls.
“The welfare of these birds had not been taken into consideration. These owls are being released somewhere that owls would not normally live or breed,” Murray said.
“Using owls to address the rat problem isn’t viable. Rather use the money for the project to clean up Alexandra, so that the rats will have nothing to feed on and will either leave the area or die,” he said.
“Rather spend that money to employ people to catch the rats; that will address the rat problem.”
The organisation sought to stop the project and had opened a case of animal cruelty with the National Council of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA).
However, Jonathan Haw of Eco-Solutions – the company that donated the owls – said the project sought to change peoples’ mindsets about owls and was proving successful.
According to Haw, historically people in townships who had an owl take residency in their roofs would have killed the bird but since the introduction of the project people chose to contact Eco-Solutions to have the bird relocated.
“Five or 10 years ago owls were being killed in townships and I’m not surprised if an owl has been killed in Alex but that’s our charter; it’s about changing mindsets and educating people,” Haw said.
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He said over 83 000 children had been involved in feeding the birds, which were housed at schools prior to their release, and these children were likely to become owl friendly adults.
However, Haw said, if an owl had had been killed in Alex, it did not deem the project unsuccessful but suggested that more educational programmes were needed.
He questioned claims that more owls were dying as a result of the project, arguing that owls had been breeding in the township prior to the introduction of the project.
“I would like proof of the owls that have been killed; where is the body of that decapitated owl.”
“Not all of the owls in Alex are ours; all of our owls have a ring on their leg, if one of our owls was killed, where is that ring,” he asked.
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