Believe it or not! Owls are protecting the farming lands in Cyprus, and this rare event has been trending on social media for a few days.

Once, rats used to create problems for the farmers in the island nation located in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Those, who have their farming lands situated between Republic of Cyprus and the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, were in deep trouble. It was not possible for them to always cross the border in order to take proper care of their lands. As a result, rats used to destroy a large part of the crops.

A voluntary organisation, called BirdLife, came forward to deal with this problem. Members of the organisation put around 50 light wooden boxes on the branches of different trees especially for the owls in the area between the two sides of borders. At the same time, they advised local farmers to refrain from using poison in order to kill rats. Instead, the concerned authorities decided to leave the responsibility of controlling the rats to the owls. Talking to the media, Deneia Mayor Christakis Panayiotou has said that the concerned authorities used to find the bodies of around 20 owls every year. Autopsies revealed that many died as a result of consuming rat poison, he added. “They lose their capacity to fly and get hit by cars,” stated the mayor.

Christodoulou, the owner of a farm in the demilitarised corridor, has stressed: “Our village was full of rats and mice. They ate our crops, nibbled on our tyres. Then we set up these boxes for the owls.” He further said: “The owls are a miracle! Their presence has had a radical impact in driving away the rodents and I can now practise organic farming.“

This campaign has been going on for almost a decade. In its latest report, BirdLife has mentioned that at least 5,000 mice have been killed annually by owls, nesting around farmlands in the region. According to the report, especially Barn species of owls are seen there. Once, a decline in their numbers across Europe worried environmentalists.

BirdLife Director Martin Hellicar, who counts more than 1,300 owl boxes across Cyprus, has congratulated the farmers for the success of the project, stating that they have become “attached to the barn owls and reconnecting with nature“. Meanwhile, Scientist Iris Charalambidou has described the no-man’s land as a unique place for its expanse of largely untouched nature in comparison to the unbridled real estate development on other parts of the island. She said that the researchers were able to work together and to observe barn owls in the buffer zone “that divides them is invaluable“. “Because no bird will ever respect the borders drawn by man,” added Charalambidou.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das