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Using Barn Owls-- the Natural Way to Control Farm Pests

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Category: Health, Science & Technology

Via: the-irascible-harry-krishner • 13 years ago • 6 comments

Using Barn Owls-- the Natural Way to Control Farm Pests

Farmers from Israel and Jordan have been using barn owls instead of pesticides to deal with mice and rats for the last 10 years as part of a joint conservation venture called Project Barn Owl.

Hat tip: Al Arabiya:

In 2002, Jordanian and Israeli farmers wanted to end the use of poisons and toxic pest controls but still needed a way to safeguard their products from rats and mice.

The farmers, along with Israel's Society for the Protection of Nature and Jordan's General Mansour Abu-Rashid, began placing nesting boxes where the barn owls would breed in, up to 2,600 boxes in fields on the Israeli side of the border, hundred which are used by Jordanian farmers.

According to Ornithologist Dr. Motti Charter from Haifa University, around ten years would pass until an Israeli male owl and Jordanian female owl coupled up and bred.

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Professor Expert

seeder Krishna 13 years ago

Great stuff! Not only does this reduce chemical damage to the environment from pesticides, but it also preserves the natural habitat of the Owls.

Professor Expert

seeder Krishna 13 years ago

Beit Shean valley is home to the world's largest population of barn owls. There are 25,300 pairs per square kilometer and each consumes 2000 to 6000 rodents each year.

The Israeli-Jordanian project promotes the replacement of pesticides with the owls, which in turn decreased chemical damage to the environment as well as conserve the natural habitat. Abu Rashid and colleague Israeli Professor Yossi Leshem at Tel Aviv University voiced their enthusiasm on the concept.
"I feel it's a very good project, not just for the environment and for the agriculture but also to bring people together from the two countries, to work as a researcher, to work together," Abu Rashid said in Tel Aviv.

Professor Expert

Perrie Halpern R.A. 13 years ago

We country folks here on LI have known that for years!

Professor Quiet

Larry Hampton 13 years ago

Powerful, gorgeous birds!

Israelis and Palestinians working together save the environment, what a wonderful partnership!

Professor Expert

seeder Krishna 13 years ago

Israelis and Palestinians working together save the environment, what a wonderful partnership!

Actually there are many such projects-- Israelis and Palestinians working together-- but the "politically correct" media usually ignores them.

Professor Quiet

Larry Hampton 13 years ago

I suppose blood sellsbetterthan peace.

But it is so counter-productive. Not just to peace but in this case to the environment, an issue that most MSM consider to be of great importance. here is another example I came across a while back...

Palestinian village and Israeli town build rare partnership across line

Wadi Fukin and Tzur Hadassah have had a relationship since 2001, when they became two of the first members of FOEMEs Good Water Neighbor project. The project, which now works with two dozen towns and villages, brings together Palestinian and Israeli communities to protect their shared water resources, fostering peace and long-term cooperation based on shared environmental interests.

Tzur Hadassah resident Tamar Gridinger says FOEMEs project prompted her to visit Wadi Fukin for the first time several years ago. A group of Tzur Hadassah residents had been buying organic fruits and vegetables from another source, she says. Then they learned that FOEME had brought in permaculture experts to help Wadi Fukin farmers give up pesticides and return to the sustainable agricultural practices used by their grandfathers.

When we realized that Wadi Fukin farmers were growing organic vegetables, it was like a gift , Gridinger says.

Now she and 25 other Tzur Hadassah families participate in a Community Supported Agriculture project, where they pre-buy a months supply of fresh produce from the village and pick up their allotment every week. (Israelis may cross the Green Line into the West Bank, but Palestinians need a special permit to cross the line into Israel.)

Both sides gain from it, Gridinger says. We get inexpensive, organic fruit and vegetables, and they earn money .

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