HS Foreign 13.8.2002 - Finland to help free wayward snowy owls from southern latitudes

By Minna Nalbantoglu

Seven snowy owls that have been rescued in the North Atlantic are to be released soon in Finnish Lapland - if plans mapped out by the Finnish Environment Institute bear fruit.

Finnish officials have promised to help the rare birds of prey that have turned up in places as varied as Belgium, The Netherlands, and Spain, and bring them back to their natural habitat.

A number of beautiful snowy owls were found floating in the North Atlantic and were rescued by the crews of fishing vessels and cargo ships. They had apparently left Scandinavia or North America to look for food and ended up too far away from land when exhaustion set in. Some of the owls had been caught in a storm.

The sailors brought the owls to land and they were sent to bird sanctuaries.

Biologist Veijo Miettinen of the Finnish Environment Institute says that it would be best for the snowy owls to get back to their northerly habitat, because there is scant knowledge for taking care of them in Central and Southern Europe.

Plans are to release the birds

in Finnish Lapland, between Kittilä and Kilpisjärvi. The further north the birds get to go, the better for them, as the tundra is their natural habitat.

"They must be released soon so they do not become domesticated", Miettinen says. The danger of institutionalisation is real, as the owls have been held in captivity by animal lovers ever since their rescue last winter.

Currently Finnish officials

are also holding discussions with Belgian officials about bringing three other snowy owls to Finland. These birds were confiscated from people who had apparently raised them as pets since they were small. The snowy owl is a protected species, and it is illegal to keep it as a pet.

However, it is not possible to release birds into the wild if they have been thoroughly domesticated, as they would probably not survive outside captivity. Releasing tame animals into nature without a special adaptation programme is banned under the Convention On International Trade in Endangered Species - the CITES treaty.

The Finnish Environment Institute has proposed to Belgian officials that the snowy owls that have been kept as pets should be brought to the Ranua Zoo in Northern Finland. The zoo itself has not decided if it would take the birds.

Belgium is to decide

soon if it will agree to send the owls to Finland. According to Belgian Environment Ministry spokesman Tom Ruts, the ministry still wants a report from its scientific committee on whether or not the owls are likely to adapt to Finnish conditions.

Another complication in the case is that the criminal investigation has not been completed.

Ruts insists that the three owls are in good condition.

"They are fed live rats", he says. However, the natural food of the snowy owl consists of voles and lemmings.

As for the rescued wild owls

it is almost certain that they will be handed over to Finland. Agreement on the issue has been reached with the Spanish authorities, and Miettinen says that the owls in The Netherlands are also ready to leave.

He says that the birds will reach Finland - and freedom - in two weeks at the earliest.

Finnish officials learned

about the rescued snowy owls from a Spanish student studying at the University of Oulu, who mentioned that there are two snowy owls in his country far away from their natural habitat.

Finnish officials began discussions in the issue at CITES meetings in Brussels. The decision was made to release them in Finland, because Finland and Sweden are the only two European Union countries with indigenous populations of the snowy owl.

Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 8.8.2002