‘We already have a lot of endangered species. We don’t need anymore’: Moose Jaw exhibit educates public about prairie burrowing owls

Western Burrowing Owls are spotted in southern Saskatchewan. (Photo Credit: Shelly Fisher)

With 17 baby burrowing owls recently hatching in southern Saskatchewan, a not-for-profit organization is calling people to be mindful about the endangered bird species.

“We’re here to help educate the public about the Burrowing Owls and their endangered status here in Canada,” shared Lori Johnson, owl coordinator for the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre.

“We want to give people information about the owls about their prairie habitat, and what they can do to help ensure that future generations get to enjoy burrowing owls in the wild.”

In effort to teach people about the Western Burrowing Owls in the prairies, the centre is providing tours all summer-long in Moose Jaw.

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The native wildlife species is a “highly endangered bird” in Canada, and be spotted along the southern parts of the province, as well as Alberta, Manitoba, and Okanagan, B.C.

“We don’t have exact population numbers just because these guys can be a little hard to study and a little hard to find, but biologists are estimating there’s probably less than a thousand pairs remaining here in Canada,” said Johnson.

“It’s not a self-sustaining wild population which is what we would need to be able to downgrade them from an endangered species.”

Visiting the centre for her second time, Arianna English said she enjoys seeing the grassland birds.

“They’re interesting creatures. To be honest, I’ve never really gotten a good look at them, and they’re really hard to find, so seeing them for a first is really exciting,” she said.

Aside from learning that Western Burrowing Owls are at threat of being extinct, English said she learned other interesting facts.

“I learned that their eyeballs take [up] 90 per cent of their skull,” she shared. “I learned that they don’t poop like normal birds where it’s white. It’s actually like brown and kind of like a dog’s poop.”

She added that she hopes to see more people visit the centre and gain knowledge about the rare species.

“I think that more people should come here and learn about owls and learn more about their habitats and how to save them because we already have a lot of endangered species. We don’t need anymore,” English noted.

The centre will be open until Sept. 1, where people can view 13 adult burrowing owls, along with 17 babies.