It was early on a late March morning when a Chester County, Pennsylvania woman and her husband arrived at Little Chiques Park in Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. She had traveled close to 40 miles to take a photograph of the new pair of great horned owlets that were nestled in a sycamore tree in the park. Owls have always been her favorite when it comes to photographing nature. Shortly after the pair arrived, they realized that something was entirely wrong. Seems a group of men had surrounded the tree with one of them scaling the tree to grab one of the baby owls.
She feared they were stealing the owlet and didn't know what to do. They confronted the men and were told that what they were doing was entirely legal and they were permitted to do so since the one fellow was going to train the owlet for hunting in what is known as falconry. She and her husband were angered and she eventually wrote about it online when she returned home. Many others began reading her rendition of the event and more and more people began angered. Members of the wildlife photography community said they view the removal as an affront to a natural wonder that attracts visitors from hours away. Turns out it really is legal, but does that make it right? Shortly after a fellow by the name of Michael Kuriga, who is the leader of a statewide falconry group agreed that taking the owlet in the manner that the men did was not the best way to do it. He said doing it in that fashion could tarnish the reputation of the sport and his group want nothing to do with the men who took the owlet. Now local park officials are going to see what can be done to stop the practice of stealing birds from their nests for sport. Seems that falconry is a centuries-old technique of using trained birds of prey to hunt other animals and is still practiced by a small number of sportsmen in Pennsylania. They must obtain a permit after special training and requires them to first train as apprentices under experienced falconers. The state of Pennsylvania has over 800,000 licensed hunters, mostly for deer, squirrels, rabbits and such game. Only 207 of those 800,000 have a falconry permit. State law says they may capture a wild raptor - hawk, falcons or owls - each year, for use in the sport. That included young birds that have not left the nest. Falconers are required to report to the Game Commission any time they take a bird, and the following day a report was filed by the person who took the owlet from the tree at Little Chiques Park. A local resident of Mount Joy told the local newspaper that visiting photographers from all over the country know that Little Chiques Park is a popular place for photos of the Great Horned Owls. Could the taking of the owlet discourage other owls from nesting in the future and ruin it for photographers in the future. A Conservation Biology professor at local Millersville University said that it could cause them to move to another location, but so could taking photographs of them all the time. Falconry is as close to the predator-prey relationship as a human can be. And, the practice is permitted by the Pennsylvania Game Commission who allow hunters to train and hunt with hawks, falcons and owls; all known as raptors. But, after the recent taking of the owlet, it is now under close scrutiny in Lancaster County. Mount Joy borough has begun taking steps to ban falconry at the park. It legally can do so since it is a public park. I'm sure those who were outraged after reading the story of the removal of the owlet from the tree in Mount Joy can't wait until the new law passes. Not going to stop it from happening other places, but at least the owls will be able to return to their nest next year and don't have to worry about an owlet being taken once again. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
The nest where one of the baby owlets was taken.
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