COLUMBUS, Ohio — Most people don’t give a hoot about owls, but lately at the Statehouse, they’re ruffling some feathers.
Mick Brown is head of the Ohio Falconry Association, and he’s been working to make it legal to use owls for hunting small game, like squirrels and rabbits.
“Her name is Owly Capone,” Brown beamed as he showed off his screech owl. “We thought it was a male so we named him Owl Capone, but then we found out it was a female, so we named her Owly Capone.”
As of right now, only falcons and hawks can be used for falconry, so he’s hoping to add more flyers to his kestrel swell.
“It’s just a good option, and we’d like to use them. And if one gets injured, and we’re not sure if it can be released, we can make sure it can catch things before it’s released.”
Brown is one of about 100 falconers in the state of Ohio who have to go through a rigorous certification process.
Forty-five other states allow owls for both sport and rodent abatement.
Last month, the bill flew through both the House and Senate and now sits on Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk.
Mike Krock, another member of the Ohio Falconry Association, said it’s a small detail that could make a big impact in their community.
“It doesn’t mean that every falconer is going to go out and take an owl from the wild,” said Krock. “But it does give us the ability to use a bird called the eurasian eagle owl, that would be a captive-bred bird that we would obtain”
Brown said there were some opponents of the bill who wanted it further down the pecking order at the Statehouse.
He said this bill will ensure the survival of these birds of prey that otherwise might not make it.
“I with they knew that eight out of 10 birds of prey don’t make it until a year old. They just die. In the wild, they injure a wing, a foot, they can’t hunt. They starve. It’s as simple as that,” said Brown. “When we take a falconry bird, they have a very good chance of making it. It’s as simple as that. Falconers usually don’t have anything happen to their birds; we give them good food (and) vitamins. We fly them all the time”
While Brown waits for the bill to become law, he and his birds of a feather are nesting happily together.
“They have a really good life.”
