Re: “Snowy owls starving,” The Leader, Jan. 1.
While I support the good work of OWL (Orphaned Wildlife Rehabilitation Society), I feel laying the blame for the plight of the snowy owls at the feet of photographers is inaccurate and unfair.
While photography might be a billion-dollar industry, few people earn their living taking photos of snowy owls. Wildlife photographers are as concerned about the well-being of the snowy owls as OWL’s Ms. Bev Day.
A long lens means you don’t need to get close to the subject; in fact you cannot focus a long lens if you are too close – and that’s a good thing for the owls or any wildlife.
When I have been down at Boundary Bay photographing the snowy owls from the public foot path, what scared the owls and I away were the hunters with rifles on the foreshore shooting ducks over our heads. Perhaps the hunters firing guns are stressing the snowy owls?
Sheena Wilkie
Surrey
