Owls Are Flying Into Subang To Help Kill Off Rats Once And For All
Owlright!
By Sadho Ram — 24 Nov 2015, 05:57 PM
In order to counter Petaling Jaya's rat infestation problem, the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) has hired owls and will do a trial run at SS15 next month to test the operation's effectiveness
Shocked? Don't be.
Owls are excellent when it comes to hunting rodents.
It seems keeping rodents in check was quite a problem even for nature, or she wouldn't have had to design such a high-tech killer as the owl. ;)
A pair of owls will be placed in public parks and they will eventually build their nests there, said Municipal councillor Ken Chia adding that the project, which is sponsored by local businesses, would be carried out with the assistance of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
If effective, the plan will be implemented in 11 other areas – SS17, SS19, SS14, SS12m, PJS11, PJS9, USJ2, USJ1, USJ6, USJ9 and USJ3.
themalaysianinsider.com
Rats are nocturnal, but hiding in the dark won't save them from an owl as owls have very large, deep and specially adapted eyes that can see in the dark and they see perfectly well in the daylight too
Moreover, owls have special feathers and special comb structures on their wings that muffle the sound of the air rushing by. They fly in an eerie silence, like ghosts - the rat can't hear the owl, but the owl can hear the rat, and knows exactly where it is.
A single owl can eat between one to two rats a night.
Thanks to their incredible hearing, owls, like this Great Gray Owl, can hear prey hidden deep under snow.
Image via Guy Lichter