A scene from the Nepal Owl Festival (photo courtesy of Raju Acharya)
Owl Education Methods
When designing environmental education presentations, you should start by thinking about what you want to accomplish. What is the main point of your presentation? What do you want people to do or not do? Do you want people to change their attitudes or values about owls? Are there important points you want your audience to learn and remember?
A survey of 17 experienced owl educators working in 11 different countries generated the following list of key behaviors they were trying to encourage in their audiences to help owls:
A survey of 17 experienced owl educators working in 11 different countries generated the following list of key behaviors they were trying to encourage in their audiences to help owls:
- Leave dead trees standing (to provide nest holes and calling perches for owls)
- Plant native trees
- Protect habitat
- Use traps instead of poison to control rodents (to avoid poisoning owls)
- Take down soccer nets when not in use (owls get caught in them)
- Take down unused barbed wire (owls get caught in it)
- Use less paper (paper is made from trees, which is where most owls nest)
- Keep cats indoors (cats kill small owls and large owls kill cats)
- Mow less lawn (since mowed grass doesn't support their prey species)
- Put up owl nest boxes
- Report nesting owls
- If young owls are found on the ground observe them to make sure they need help before intervening
- Owls don’t make good pets
- Get involved in owl research and conservation
- Donate to owl research and conservation
- Be aware of the source of the products you purchase—you “vote” with your money (for example, palm oil often destroys enormous amounts of habitat for native owl species)
- Don’t harm owls
- Report people who are harming or selling owls
Interpretation versus Information
The National Association of Interpretation defines interpretation as "a mission-based communication process that forges emotional and intellectual connections between the interests of the audience and the meanings inherent in the resource." The resource in our context, of course, is owls.
This means that to be effective, we must connect with people in ways that are meaningful to them. We must involve their emotions as well as their brains.
Two examples illustrate the difference between information and interpretation:
Information
"Most scientific studies show that 60-80% or more of wild owls have measurable levels of rodenticides in their bodies."
Interpretation
"How many of you have never had a mouse in your house or garage? (Usually few if any people raise their hands.) We all have to deal with rodents at some point in our lives, and how we chose to do it makes a big difference for owls. Mouse and rat poison is formulated so that the rodents won't die for four or five days after they first eat it, because if they got sick after the first meal but didn't eat enough to die, they would never touch it again. So they keep eating it, and eventually begin to bleed internally. This makes them thirsty, so they go looking for water. They figured out how to get into your house, so they can figure out how to get back out, which is what they often do. By this time they are easy prey for owls and other raptors.
One poisoned mouse isn't enough to kill a Great Horned Owl, but the poison can stay in their system for over a year. To find out how serious of a problem this is, researchers in places like Canada, the United States and Europe have used a variety of different methods to check for mouse and rat poison in owls and other raptors. Most studies are finding at least 60% of the small mammal predators tested (like Barred, Great Horned and Barn Owls) have measurable levels of one (but usually more than one) rodenticide in their bodies. This means that MOST owls have consumed poison.
We have the power to make a difference for owls by choosing to use traps instead of poisons to control rodents. We vote with our money, so if no one buys rodenticides, they won't make them anymore. We can take care of the problem from the ground up, since trying to legislate a ban on rodenticides is extremely difficult and involves lobbying by the manufacturers, campaign contributions, and the like. But we consumers have the power to choose traps and solve the problem ourselves. In the process we also save thousands of cats, dogs and children that also eat mouse and rat poison every year."
Interpretation takes a lot longer, but it's a much more effective tool to reach your audience. It's not just dry facts to be memorized...it's a story that becomes a part of the life of each audience member through relevancy and emotions.
Information
"Spotted Owls have a limited diet and thus need large territories. Barred Owls are generalist predators, so they need a much smaller territory to survive. When Barred Owls move into Spotted Owl territories, the larger Barred Owls outcompete the Spotted Owls. Four or five Barred Owl pairs can live within the territory of only one Spotted Owl pair."
Interpretation
"Raise your hand if you are a fussy eater. OK, now raise your hand if you eat almost anything. Those of you who eat almost anything are like Barred Owls. They are generalists, which means they eat a wide variety of prey and usually don't have trouble finding something to eat. It also means they don't need an enormous territory to provide them with enough food.
Those of you who are fussy eaters are like Spotted Owls. Northern Spotted Owls like to eat tree voles, wood rats and flying squirrels, so it takes a much larger territory to provide enough of the food they like to eat for a pair to survive.
When Barred Owls move into Spotted Owl territories, the larger and less fussy Barred Owls outcompete the smaller Spotted Owls. Because Barred Owls eat almost anything, their territories are so much smaller than you can fit four to five Barred Owl territories into the space of one Spotted Owl territory. The Barreds eat the food and generally outcompete the Spotted Owls, which is a significant reason for the extreme decline in Spotted Owls.
This means that to be effective, we must connect with people in ways that are meaningful to them. We must involve their emotions as well as their brains.
Two examples illustrate the difference between information and interpretation:
Information
"Most scientific studies show that 60-80% or more of wild owls have measurable levels of rodenticides in their bodies."
Interpretation
"How many of you have never had a mouse in your house or garage? (Usually few if any people raise their hands.) We all have to deal with rodents at some point in our lives, and how we chose to do it makes a big difference for owls. Mouse and rat poison is formulated so that the rodents won't die for four or five days after they first eat it, because if they got sick after the first meal but didn't eat enough to die, they would never touch it again. So they keep eating it, and eventually begin to bleed internally. This makes them thirsty, so they go looking for water. They figured out how to get into your house, so they can figure out how to get back out, which is what they often do. By this time they are easy prey for owls and other raptors.
One poisoned mouse isn't enough to kill a Great Horned Owl, but the poison can stay in their system for over a year. To find out how serious of a problem this is, researchers in places like Canada, the United States and Europe have used a variety of different methods to check for mouse and rat poison in owls and other raptors. Most studies are finding at least 60% of the small mammal predators tested (like Barred, Great Horned and Barn Owls) have measurable levels of one (but usually more than one) rodenticide in their bodies. This means that MOST owls have consumed poison.
We have the power to make a difference for owls by choosing to use traps instead of poisons to control rodents. We vote with our money, so if no one buys rodenticides, they won't make them anymore. We can take care of the problem from the ground up, since trying to legislate a ban on rodenticides is extremely difficult and involves lobbying by the manufacturers, campaign contributions, and the like. But we consumers have the power to choose traps and solve the problem ourselves. In the process we also save thousands of cats, dogs and children that also eat mouse and rat poison every year."
Interpretation takes a lot longer, but it's a much more effective tool to reach your audience. It's not just dry facts to be memorized...it's a story that becomes a part of the life of each audience member through relevancy and emotions.
Information
"Spotted Owls have a limited diet and thus need large territories. Barred Owls are generalist predators, so they need a much smaller territory to survive. When Barred Owls move into Spotted Owl territories, the larger Barred Owls outcompete the Spotted Owls. Four or five Barred Owl pairs can live within the territory of only one Spotted Owl pair."
Interpretation
"Raise your hand if you are a fussy eater. OK, now raise your hand if you eat almost anything. Those of you who eat almost anything are like Barred Owls. They are generalists, which means they eat a wide variety of prey and usually don't have trouble finding something to eat. It also means they don't need an enormous territory to provide them with enough food.
Those of you who are fussy eaters are like Spotted Owls. Northern Spotted Owls like to eat tree voles, wood rats and flying squirrels, so it takes a much larger territory to provide enough of the food they like to eat for a pair to survive.
When Barred Owls move into Spotted Owl territories, the larger and less fussy Barred Owls outcompete the smaller Spotted Owls. Because Barred Owls eat almost anything, their territories are so much smaller than you can fit four to five Barred Owl territories into the space of one Spotted Owl territory. The Barreds eat the food and generally outcompete the Spotted Owls, which is a significant reason for the extreme decline in Spotted Owls.
To use live owls or not
In some countries it is legal to use live owls in educational programs. There are many pros and cons to using live owls as part of an education program that vary by country, existing regulations, and cultural attitudes. The International Owl Center has chosen to use live owls, as is often done in the United States, and here is a full explanation of the reasons why.
