A Sebokeng, school in the Vaal has gone green in the fight against its local rat infestation - by adopting three barn owls.
The Thaba Vuyo School for Children and Adults with Special Needs became one of more than 50 schools around Gauteng to take in owls donated by the FreeMe wildlife rehabilitation centre.
This, say Alex Haw and Mandla Ngwenya of EcoSolutions - who delivered the owls to the school yesterday - drastically reduces incidents where children get admitted to hospitals for eating rat poison.
"In a year, we get about 500 children in hospitals because of ingesting environmentally unfriendly poison laid down for rats. If we put owls in, we take rats out of the equation and our kids won't have to be going to hospitals and people would not have a huge rat problem," said Ngwenya.
"It is an environmental education campaign. We teach the kids about the environment and sustainability, but the major thing is the rat problem, which is really, really big."
The three, six-week-old owls will stay in closed boxes for three weeks, while children at the school will feed them.
After that, EcoSolutions will return to free them from their boxes.
"They associate the box with home after three weeks, so they will keep coming back," said Haw.
Times Live Nov 10, 2010 10:44 PM | By JUDY LELLIOTT
