For most people an owl on the roof is regarded as a bad omen, but not for Chris Pretorius and his family from the farm Elandskloof near Grahamstown.
For most people an owl on the roof is regarded as a bad omen, but not for Chris Pretorius and his family from the farm Elandskloof near Grahamstown.
For almost six years now they have, with the help of a rehabilitated owl named Uiltjie, helped injured and orphaned owls to recover and be released back into their natural habitat again.
Uiltjie, a male Spotted Eagle Owl has so far adopted and raised 23 orphaned owlets successfully and even teaches them to hunt and fend for themselves.
Rhodes University, under the leadership of Professor Adrian Craig from the Department of Zoology and Entomology has now begun to ring these owlets to follow their dispersal and survival.
But it is not only his own species that Uiltjie takes care of. He has been instrumental in the rehabilitation of several other owl species and raptors as well and will feed them rodents that he caught, while they are recovering from their injuries.
Juliet, a Barn Owl that was hit by a vehicle on the N2 road between Port Elizabeth and Grahamstown, is one of his success stories.
This female Barn Owl had a broken wing and also suffered from severe head injuries and took almost six months to completely recover. During this time Uiltjie took her under his wing and fed her rodents that he caught.
After her recovery she was released on the farm and hooked up with a wild Barn Owl male that Chris named Romeo. The two moved into a nest box that Chris put up for them and successfully raised first six, and then another four owlets. Chris installed a surveillance camera in the nest box and captured everything on video. He entered a short edited video clip for a video competition held by Kwêla on the Kyknet channel 144.
Chris entered a short video clip of Romeo and Juliet in the Kwêla 2013 Video Competition which made it to the final to be aired on Kwêla, channel 144 at 7.30pm on Wednesday 20 November.
If you like what Chris is doing, you can vote by SMSing the word “Uil” to 33157 any time from after the programme is aired, to Monday 25 November before midday. You are allowed to send 30 SMSes from one cellphone. If your entry is selected you stand a chance of winning a prize, including a luxury 4×4 camping trailer and a two-day holiday for two people at a seven-star nature reserve.
To find out more about the owls Chris rehabilitates, email him at cjcj@absamail.co.za
