Moose Jaw Dog Club Helps Burrowing Owls

By Robert Thomas

It was an appreciative group as the Moose Jaw Dog Club presented a cheque for $1,000 to the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Centre on Wednesday afternoon.

The cheque represents the proceeds from a raffle, the Moose Jaw Dog Club held as part of their agility trials, held on April 22 and April 23.

MOOSE JAW DOG CLUB GIVES A HOOT BY PRESENTING A CHEQUE FOR $1,000 TO THE SASKATCHEWAN BURROW OWL INTERPRETIVE CENTRE (FROM LEFT TO RIGHT) CAROL CAPELLINI-WILE PAST PRESIDENT MOOSE JAW DOG CLUB, ALLISON RAIN MOOSE JAW DOG CLUB AND LORI JOHNSON SASASKATCHEWAN BURROWING OWL INTERPRETIVE CENTRE - MJ INDEPENDENT PHOTO

“We had a cheque presentation from the Moose Jaw Dog Club for $1000 and it was donated to our Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre,” Lori Johnson, centre director said.

“It was raised from their raffle from their spring spring fling dog agility trials,” Johnson said, adding the funds would “probably go towards feeding our resident owls here at the centre.”

“Our food bill is actually one of our largest costs of running the centre so this will go a long way in providing some food for the owls.”

The mice fed to the centre’s brewing, owls, are sourced from the Canadian Mouse Man from Medicine Hat. The Mouse Man not only supplies the burrowing owl centre but also an individuals as well as pet shops.

Johnson said the season for the burrowing owl centre begins on May 20 this year although it is unknown at this time if the others will be on public display due to the threat of avian flu.

”We’re still unsure as as to whether or not, the owls will be out for public viewing on opening day we’re waiting to hear from our vets and will take their advisement and we’ll go from there,” Johnson said.

Allison Rain from the Moose Jaw Dog Club said the raffle is an annual event put on as part of the club’s agility trials.

During those trials we hold our fundraiser, usually basket raffles and every year we donate the proceeds of those raffles to another charity in town,” Rain said, adding “this year we decide to chose the borrowing owl interpretive centre this year we raised a total of thousand dollars for the owls.”

Set the amount the raffle raise this year was much higher compared to other years.

“It’s quite a bit compared to other years, most years we have raised between $600 and $700 so this is probably the best we’ve done so far.”

Burrowing owls remain on the endangered species list with about 500 to 800 owls living in the wild.

The owls at the Saskatchewan Burrowing Owl Interpretive Centre will spend their lives in captivity as a means to protect the species.