Paphos village provides nests for barn owls to control rat population

Steni community council has placed five nesting boxes on trees to attract barn owls as part of the biological control of rodents.

The artificial nests in the Paphos village were placed in collaboration with the agriculture department and game service in five different locations withing the community’s residential area, Steni community leader Elias Lampides said.

It was part of the rat control project of the agriculture department which aims to promote the biological control of rodents, Lampides said, by placing nesting boxes in areas where there is evidence barn owls exist.

Such nesting boxes have been put across all districts and are viewed as an ecological solution to control rat populations.

In contrast, poison, has a huge impact up the food chain as it can also poison predators such as eagle who attempt to eat the baited rats, Birdlife  Cyprus director Martin Hellicar had told the Cyprus Mail.