Weltevreden Park Primary gives a hoot about owls
WELTEVREDEN PARK – Two barn owls will temporarily call Weltevreden Park Primary their home.
Weltevreden Park Primary School has two new additions to the school family, and they are only one month old.
It started when one of the school’s Grade 7 learners, Josephine Baxter, was given a Christmas present of regurgitated owl food remains.
It was part of a junior science kit by integrated pest management specialists EcoSolutions, which allowed Josephine to dissect pellets of owl food. Photographs of the dissection experiment could be submitted to EcoSolutions as part of their Owl Project.
Josephine’s photograph was chosen at random and she won the opportunity for her school to look after two baby barn owls. It took a week for the release pen to be erected and the owls were brought to their new temporary home on 6 June. Josephine and two of her friends will take on the responsibility of feeding the owls and monitoring their food intake.
Josephine explained that in the next four to five weeks, the owls will be allowed to leave the pen, returning for food. They will return to the pen until they have found a suitable home in the area. “I am excited to help bring owls back to the area,” she said.
Junior EcoSolutions ecologist, Sara Orchardson said the Owl Project has run for years and many schools and estates around Gauteng are involved, adding that schools are an ideal environment for owls as they are quiet at night when the owls are awake.
The two owls add to the existing bird loving environment at the school, as deputy principal Herman Bresler pointed out the school has had an aviary of birds since it was built by Bresler in 1995. The school sold candy floss to fund the project and it has been an educational and unique aspect to the school ever since.
The EcoSolutions owl kits with the regurgitated food remains are now sold at the school’s reception for R100, which goes towards owl conservation.
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