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Owl Conservation Programs and Owl Rescue
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December 8, 2010 (Pokhara, Kaski).An owl has been rescued from a person’s home at Gairapatan Pokhara that has been kept illegally for the purpose of trade. After the rescue its medical check up was done and has been released to its natural habitat. The owl was rescued by Environment Department, Alternatives along with the help of Friends of Nature, an NGO. The rescued owl was Barn owl. 
As an outcome of a month-long owl conservation campaign at different school of pokhara and its outskirt, the owl was rescued after the information got from the students. Recently a month long owl conservation campaign has completed in coordination of Mr. Shiva Poudel, Program Officer, Environment Department, Alternatives. Mr. Samudra Paudel, Founder/President, Alternatives, said “The campaign was focused to aware the school level youngsters about the role and importance of owl in maintaining our ecosystem as these students are more involved in killing birds.” According to the law of Nepal, it is illegal to domesticate, kill, and steal the eggs of birds. If a person is found convicted of such things then s/he will be either charged up to Rs 10000 as fine or sentenced for 2 years prison or both.
All around the world, there are 225 different species of owl, among them 20 species of owl are found in Nepal. More specifically, among these 20 kinds of owl found in Nepal, 12 species of owl have their habitat around pokhara and its outskirt. “These owls are one of the good friends of us, especially of farmers, as it helps to control the numbers of rats that destroy our crops. A study has found that a single owl can kill about 3000 rats in a season. So, they have a close relationship with the farmers, especially in country like Nepal, where the country’s economy depends upon the agriculture” said, Raju Acharya, World Owl Trust, Britian,-Nepal representative.
Owls are regarded as a symbol of prosperity. In Arabian countries, people prefer to have owl as it is luck. In Nepalese culture, owl is the symbol of goddess Laxmi, i.e goddess of wealth. Definitely it could be, if we conserve these birds and made advertisement all around the world, people from different parts of the world would come for bird watching. According to the data, of the total number of tourist only 5% tourist come Nepal for the purpose of bird watching. It would be beneficial, in economic term, for all Nepalese if we preserve such endangered species and flourish it worldwide.
The conservation campaign was conducted by Environment Department of Alternatives around Pokhara with the coordination of Friends of Nature, an NGO for nature conservation. Since last 2 years, Friends of Nature has conducted 210 such camps at 9 districts with its local partners.
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