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Posted by Nancy Freedman on 18:49:27 06/18/04
In Reply to: Re: Danger for Barry Owls posted by Elena
I pulled up to the burrowing owl site around 4:15 today and Elena was there. While we were admiring the five babies lined up on a lower tree limb, FWC arrived. Officer Johnson was less than knowledgeable about burrowing owls. But he did catch the attention of Paul Carstens, Director of the Facility Plant/Maintenance Dept. at Barry. We listened in on his conversation with Mr. Jefferson of FWC. He informed FWC that the construction company would not do anything more until July 10th, which he was informed was the end of the "breeding season" for burrowing owls. In the interim, someone (presumably hired by the construction company, Beauchamps Const., was to survey the site. That was enough for Officer Jefferson to declare Case No. 6255 closed and he drove away. Not very helpful was he. Mr. Carstens spent some more time with Elena and I. We voiced our concerns, he listened, he said that Beauchamps has dealt with four cases of owls before. However, according to FWC, these owls will be relocated. When and where is unknown. The five babies (who are rather large and according to Elena hunting on their own) have not returned to their burrows even though these burrows are outside the fence which was placed approximately two days ago according to Mr. Carstens. The lone owl remains in the burrow inside the newly constructed fence. I have Mr. Carstens phone number and will follow up with him as well as keep an eye on what's going on. Bottom line seems to be that the owls are going to be relocated by someone from the West Palm Beach FWC office, unfortunately neither Elena nor I had pens and couldn't get his full name but it was Ricardo something. Mr. Carstens was forthcoming and seemingly concerned. He has my phone number as well. Time will tell but I'll tell you something, the representative from FWC was a great disappointment. By the way, the number for FWC handling the case is a 305 number, but again, due to lack of pens, I don't have it. Elena does but she will be out of town this weekend. Anyway, Mr. Jefferson declared "case closed" as far as FWC is concerned. Let's hope for the best.
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