Wild at Heart works to provide new homes to burrowing owls

Arizona-based nonprofit Wild at Heart has been relocating burrowing owls to Martin Farm in Marana for the past eight years, with the goal of creating a safe haven for them.

Greg Clark is the nonprofit’s Burrowing Owl Habitat Coordinator and has been working with burrowing owls for more than two decades.

“There used to be millions of burrowing owls,” Clark said.

However, according to a report from Stanford University , their numbers have declined by 33% from 1956 to 2016, but Clark is determined to help change that.

“So what we’re trying to do is figure out how to come up with a program and strategy," Clark said. "So that eventually burrowing owls can live anywhere where there’s open space and there’s enough food for them to make a living.”

Many of the owls lose their homes to new developments.

“So Wild at Heart goes in there before the site is bladed and we get any burrowing owls that are living underground at that site out of trouble and into the care facility,” the bird enthusiast said.

From there, they are relocated to sites like the one in Marana.

“We put up small tents and we put two owls inside and volunteers bring food to the owls everyday for 30 days,” he said. “That helps them build site fidelity for the new site. They get used to living here and when the tent comes down we feed them for at least a week.”

The nonprofit has done this for the several hundred owls that have been relocated to the site, but it may not be their forever home.

“They may not stay where we put them,” Clark said. “We can’t control that part, but the part about them going back where there are houses and freeways or warehouses – they don’t do that. They find someplace to live where it’s safe and there’s food.”

The nonprofit is currently trying to add another site in Marana.

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Madison Thomas joined KGUN 9 in July of 2023 as a multimedia journalist . She graduated from Arizona State University in May of 2023 with a degree in journalism and mass communication. She has lived in Arizona her entire life and grew up in Douglas. Madison is thrilled to share the stories from the community she grew up in. Share your story ideas and important issues with Madison by emailing madison.thomas@kgun9.com or by connecting on Instagram , Twitter or Facebook .