Sneugler fra Belgien til Finland

Sneugler fra Belgien til Finland


phyl.dk har tidligere berettet om canadiske Sneugler der via skib kom til især Belgien og Holland. Fuglene er fortsat i pleje i belgien, men i henhold til nedenstående pressemeddelse, så er der nu givet grønt lys for at det kan blive fløjet til Finland.

Brussels/Opglabbeek/Helsinki/Rovaniemi 23.08.2002
The Federal Minister for Consumer Interests, Health and Environment, Magda Aelvoet eventually gave her go-ahead for the export of five Snowy owls from Belgium to Finland. During a severe gale, two of these birds boarded Canadian cargos on the Labrardor Sea and were ship-assisted into Belgian harbours. Once arrived there, the birds were taken into care in a revalidation centre of the Royal Belgian Society for the Protection of Wild Birds. Three other Snowy owls were confiscated by the Belgian authorities when found in the illegal possession of private persons. This case has already been treated by the public prosecutor of Kortrijk: a high fine was imposed upon the illegal owners and the owls were adjudged to the Society.

Snowy owls are protected under several national and international laws. In order to legally transport these birds from Belgium to Finland, the Society needed several licenses. By the end of April, AMINAL, a department of the Flemish government had already issued a transport license. Unfortunately, the Veterinary Services needed more than four months to issue the necessary CITES-documents. Initially, a negative advice was given on 7 June. The Society was surprised by this and asked some opinions of several nationally and internationally renowned owl experts who all agreed that a release of these owls in the Finnish Arctic was well acceptable. Meanwhile, the pressure upon the responsible Minister and her administration to issue all the required permits as soon as possible was increased by means of a cyber action. No less than a thousand persons sent an e-mail to the Minister’s office bureau to express their indignation about the negative advice. By now, the owls had been in captivity for more than half a year and needed to be released in the wild the sooner the better.

What followed was a period of intense consultation between the Minister’s administration, the Veterinary Services and the Society. As a consequence, the Minister eventually consented to the export of the five Snowy owls. They will be flown to Finland in the beginning of September where initially they will be looked after in the Ranua Zoo, some 90 km of Rovaniemi in the north of Finland. After an adaptation period, the Nature and Land Division of the Finnish Environment Institute will have do decide whether the birds are fit enough to be released into the wild. Whatever the outcome may be, the Royal Belgian Society for the Protection of Wild Birds is disappointed that it took the responsible services of the Federal Government this long to issue the necessary permits.

Meanwhile, the newly born Belgian Air company SN Brussels Ailrlines offered its well-appreciated services: they will freely transport the owls and their attendants to Helsinki but concrete arrangements about this flight still have to be made. From Helsinki onwards, the journey will go to Rovaniemi or to Kittila (in Lapland), an internal flight which will have to be financed by the Society itself.

The birds, which still remain in a Belgian Rehabilitation Centre for Wild Animals, are moulting nowadays. This natural process, in which a bird renews its feathers, prevents that these will lose their function because of the fact that they are too worn out or damaged. The moult pattern greatly differs amongst species: some moult most of their feathers at the same time, others do it feather by feather, some moult several times a year (they moult before the breeding period, acquire an appealing, colourful ‘breeding plumage’ and moult again into a less colourful ‘winter dress’ once the breeding is over) while others need three years to complete one full moult cycle. In most species juvenile feathers are changed directly into feathers that can hardly be distinguished from adult ones. For other birds, however, it takes a long time before they get their full adult plumage. Each species has developed its own moult pattern in order to cope with this energy-consuming process as effectively as possible. Birds of prey, as the Snowy owl, moult feather by feather. Since raptors are highly and continuously dependant on their ability to fly and capture prey, they cannot afford to moult all feathers simultaneously, since that would make them flightless for some time.

As requested by the Belgian CITES-authorities, the Royal Belgian Society for the Protection of Wild Birds provided all five owls with a chip, which will make an individual identification quick and easy. When released, the birds will get an official scientific ring as well. An imminent release for the two owls that boarded the Canadian cargo’s, seems likely. The other three, seized owls, will only be released in the wild if all Finnish authorities and experts agree that they will stand a high change of survival.