John Pushor helps his son Harvey, 5, look through a telescope at burrowing owls being raised by the Burrowing Owl Conservation Program. The birds are in a large cage and people are kept back at a distance so as not to upset them. The Burrowing Owl Conservation Program is a separate organization from SORCO, the Raptor Rehab Centre, but they share the same property. Both organizations invited the public to see their operations at an open house on Sunday.
At the end of a long lane off Highway 97 north of Oliver, SORCO is the temporary home for injured owls, hawks and other raptors.
The South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls, normally closed to the public, held an open house on Sunday to show its operation to the public.
“It’s our largest fundraiser of the year,” said Dale Belvedere, who took over as manager in March. “Because we are not classified as a zoo, we are not open to the public by permit. So this is a way of saying come and see what we do, to get our name out there. The public really enjoys it.”
Hundreds of people turned out on the warm, sunny day to see the facilities and catch a glimpse of the birds.
The centre tries to minimize human contact with the birds so that they can be released into the wild after they recover. The recovering birds are kept in enclosures in two buildings, allowing them to be viewed through small openings.
Houdini, a great horned owl is one exception and is allowed human contact. He is considered an educational bird and can’t be released.
On Sunday, Houdini charmed visitors when volunteer Trish Dobransky showed him off, his head rotating like Linda Blair’s in the Exorcist.
Also open to visitors was a burrowing owl project run by the Burrowing Owl Conservation Society. This program is run by a separate society from SORCO, but they share the same property.
Visitors were kept at a distance, but got occasional glimpses through a telescope of the owls in a large caged facility.
Belvedere said SORCO’s work is strictly raptor rehabilitation, although they do educational programs for schools and community organizations, sometimes bringing along Houdini.
“It takes a lot of work and it takes a lot of funding to rehabilitate these birds,” said Belvedere.
In the past year, SORCO received a grant from the Vancouver Foundation, enabling it to build an eagle pond where they birds can fish.
The society also built an exterior pen for Houdini to give him a more natural environment.
Chaparrel Industries of Kelowna donated a new building that SORCO uses to breed rats as food for the raptors.
Anyone wishing to donate or learn more about SORCO can visit their website at www.sorco.org.
Richard McGuire
Special to the Chronicle
