The Forestry Bureau’s Pingtung office on Friday hosted a workshop on the conservation of the eastern grass owl and the extension of its habitats in Kaohsiung, and Pingtung and Chiayi counties.
Taiwan’s unique indigenous grass owl subspecies is one of six subspecies in East Asia, with populations in the lower reaches of the mountains of southern Taiwan, the office said.
The owl’s habitats largely overlap with extensively populated areas, and habit loss due to agriculture and urban development poses a major threat to its survival, the office said.
Photo: Chen Yan-ting, Taipei Times
Poisoning by agrochemical residues and accidental hunting also pose risks, it added.
Conservation efforts are complicated by a lack of data on the elusive nocturnal bird and little public awareness of the owl’s conservation status, it said.
The bureau in 2018 listed the owl as a subspecies of concern in the short and medium term, it said.
In May, the bureau included it on a list of 22 species and subspecies with nationwide priority conservation status, it said.
Programs to protect the owl include efforts to reverse habitat fragmentation and stop habitat loss, it said.
Additionally, the bureau is offering rewards to farmers who use sustainable methods and make efforts to protect target areas for conservation in their communities, it said.
The bureau’s branch offices in southern Taiwan should strengthen partnerships with researchers and conservation groups to protect the owl, it said.
Hung Hsiao-yu (洪孝宇), a researcher at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, said that a government-funded program to build habitat platforms has achieved some success.
Video evidence shows that owls are occupying 10 of the 21 platforms that were built in southern Taiwan, providing bureau officials with important data on habitat distribution, he said.
Officials should inform farmers in the region that owls are natural predators of mice and that the farmers also benefit from the platforms, he said.
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