SPOKANE, Wash. –Carmen Yount has been working with birds for several years. For the past seven, she’s been a volunteer at the West Valley Outdoor Learning Center.
She often teaches children and their parents about birds and how to preserve local species.
“You aren’t compelled to preserve something unless you understand it or have some knowledge of it,” she said.
On Sunday, she taught a group of children and their parents about a great-horned owl named Hanovei.
While this owl’s population is steady, some of its related species are in danger of extinction.
“One bird that is local to us that is having some difficulty is the barn owl, because barns are disappearing, so fewer barns means fewer opportunities for owls to nest and to roost,” Yount said.
She said solutions to keeping these animals an active part of the environment include simple steps like building birdhouses, planting native plants that attract birds and keeping a close eye on your pets as they roam outdoors.
“If this bird got into a tussle with a cat, and the cat scratched the bird, there’s a large possibility of infection,” she said.
Because it is illegal to kill many bird species in the state of Washington, Yount said hunters themselves aren’t much of an issue. Instead, it’s what they leave behind as they are hunting other animals.
“Lead ammunition,” she said. “These birds will land on whatever they can find to eat, and if there’s lead on it and they ingest it, they can die from lead poisoning.”
Yount said the best way to help keep these animals off the endangered species list is to make an intentional effort to keep them alive.
“This is why I teach about them, because it’s important that we understand the value of these animals and how delicate they are to our ecosystem,” she said.