OLIVER – The only rehabilitation centre of its kind in the Okanagan has been hit by vandals. The South Okanagan Rehabilitation Centre for Owls (SORCO) near Oliver was broken into overnight on June 6 and 7.
The target wasn’t the birds, but their food. The only building entered was one where rats are raised as live food for the raptors. Two days later, most of the rats were dead. Testing later confirmed they were poisoned.
“We have lost our entire food source at this time,” says SORCO manager Dale Belvedere. “We have no idea who would do such a cruel act. It’s animal cruelty…and a compromise to the birds we are taking care of currently.”
The poisoning killed 170 breeding rats. SORCO has had to buy alternative food for the birds, leaving the not-for-profit’s budget stretched thin, and its staff and volunteers completely devastated.
READ MORE: Food source poisoning at Okanagan raptor rehab centre
Belvedere says while the rats were used as live food for the birds, many of the volunteers treated them as pets, making this a very emotional time for everyone.
“I just have no words,” says Trish Dobransky, a SORCO volunteer. “Who would want to injure beautiful wild animals? In essence, killing our rats kills the birds.”
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The building where the rats were kept has been sanitized and filled with new laboratory breeding cages, paid for through a private donation. The Little Fish Company in Surrey also donated 12 rats.
However, Belvedere says it will take a long time and a lot of money before the centre can get back to where they were. For now, they’re focused on increasing security measures, while being grateful they haven’t lost any of their beloved birds.
But that may change. The centre’s resident owl, Houdini, was fed two poisoned rats before staff knew they had been poisoned. It’s unknown whether he will survive.
“It’s just horrible, I’ve cried more in the last two weeks than I think I have cried in my life,” says Belvedere.
(For more information about SORCO and to donate to the centre, click here)
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