GERMAN OWLS.

Forest and Bird, Issue 29, 1 April 1933, Page 6

GERMAN OWLS.

The position so far as the German Owl menace is concerned is that the N.Z. Native Bird Protection Society has offered to contribute towards the paying of a bounty or towards the cost of other methods of lessening the destruction caused by this virile pest, and suggests that the Department of Internal Affairs and those Acclimatisation Societies which were responsible for the introduction of the owl should contribute towards the cost, as it is quite beyond the means at the disposal of the Bird Society to carry the whole burden. These two Societies responsible have, however, declined to participate. The offer so far as the Bird Society is concerned means that as our trust funds are earmarked for certain special work, which does not include the paying of a bounty for the destruction of pests, they have to find the money from sums honorarily contributed for other purposes, and this is in order to offset the mischief done by those Acclimatisation Societies which were the main agents in importing the pest. When it is considered that the gross income of Acclimatisation Societies is more than 20 times that of the Bird Society, it will be considered that the offer to participate in the paying of this bounty is an exceedingly generous one.