Summary

HALLOWEEN FEATURE ON OWLS THAT LOOK LIKE GHOSTS BUT ACTUALLY HELP FARMERS RID THEIR FIELDS OF RODENTS.

Source CONUS Archive
Record ID 172520
Story Slug Ghost - Owls
Location Gainesville, FL
Format PKG*
Date 10/28/1999
Archive Time 30:09
TRT 1:21
Supers Belle Glade, FL Wayne Boynton / Sugar Farmer Linda Kubitz / Reporting Cossandra Hochreiter / UF Research Biologist
Video Description GHOST OWLS; FARM EQUIPMENT; GHOST OWLS; BOYNTON SOT; FARM EQUIPMENT; GHOST OWLS; ABANDONED BUILDING; HOCHREITER SOT; GHOST OWLS;
Description HALLOWEEN FEATURE ON OWLS THAT LOOK LIKE GHOSTS BUT ACTUALLY HELP FARMERS RID THEIR FIELDS OF RODENTS.
Script LEAD: WITH HALLOWEEN JUST AROUND THE CORNER... GHOSTS AND GOBLINS WILL SOON BE EVERYWHERE. IN MOST CASES... YOU CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THE HAUNTING ENDS. BUT AS LINDA KUBITZ REPORTS... THERE ARE SOME FRIENDLY GHOSTS YOU MIGHT WANT TO KEEP FOR AWHILE. ------------------------TAKE PKG----------------------- SCRIPT: THE EAR-PIERCING SCREECH IS A SCARY BUT WELCOME SOUND TO SOUTH FLORIDA SUGAR FARMERS. UNTIL NOW, THEY DIDN'T STAND A GHOST OF A CHANCE AGAINST AN EVER-INCREASING RAT POPULATION. BUT A SILENT PREDATOR HAUNTING THEIR FIELDS AT NIGHT IS NOW GIVING THEM A FIGHTING CHANCE. THE GHOST OWL'S IS ONE OF THE RAT'S NUMBER ONE ENEMIES AND MAYBE THE FARMER'S NEW BEST FRIEND. "The owl's catch from five to ten rats a day and eat them, so for every owl you have on your place, it's just that much less damage to the sugar cane." UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA RESEARCHERS SAY RODENTS CAUSE 30 MILLION DOLLARS IN CROP DAMAGE EACH YEAR. THAT'S WHY THEY'RE STUDYING WAYS TO INCREASE THE GHOST OR BARN OWL POPULATION AS A NATURAL CONTROL FOR THESES PESTS. ONE OF THE PROBLEMS IS THAT THE ABANDONED BUILDINGS THE OWLS CALL HOME ARE STARTING TO VANISH. "They're starting to destroy alot of these buildings and they're not replacing them. So their habitat, it's being depleted. So that's one of the things, the projects that we're working on, is actually replacing their habitat with the barn owl boxes." UF BIOLOGISTS ALSO WANT FARMERS TO LIMIT THE AMOUNT OF RAT POISON USED SO OWLS WON'T BE ACCIDENTALY POISONED. THAT WAY, THESE ENDANGERED OWLS WON'T LIVE UP TO THEIR GHOSTLY NAME AND DISAPPEAR FROM THEIR NATIVE HABITAT. ----------------------------END PKG----------------------------- TAG: IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHAT DIFFERENCE A FEW OWLS CAN MAKE... KEEP IN MIND ONE GHOST OWL CAN CONSUME UP TO 15-HUNDRED RATS AND MICE A YEAR. FLORIDA
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