Burrowing Owl Conservation Society of Bc

1980 burrowing owls were declared extirpated from british columbia from 1983-1986, ralph ritcey, dave low, and doug jury of the kamloops wildlife staff released burrowing owls from an ontario owl rehabilitation centre. owls were released into artificial burrows, in locations from douglas lake ranch, to near cache creek. over the years 1986-1989, complete families of burrowing owls were relocated from from washington state to bc release sites near osoyoos and vaseaux lakes. the bc environment ministry transplanted a total of 587 birds. they were mostly young pre-fledgling juveniles, translocated to a series of artificial burrows. despite large numbers of translocated birds and successful breeding by released owls in the field, the migratory return rates were low. the program was discontinued in 1989. our group of volunteers originated in 1988. back then our members worked as the stanley park ecology society on several environmental projects. this was the beginning of the activities of