Roadkill Fuels U.K. Trade In Stuffed Rare Owls

James Owen in England
for National Geographic News

February 2, 2004

David Leggett's freezer is crammed with dead barn owls. One of
Britain's most threatened birds of prey, there's more than 60 ghostly
corpses waiting to be stuffed for display. It's a disturbing sight, yet
there's no suggestion of any skullduggery, just further evidence that
the barn owl (Tyto alba) is gradually being wiped out by
Britain's busy roads.

Ironically, these deaths are helping to rehabilitate a profession once associated with the deliberate slaughter of endangered wildlife. By the 1880s almost every town and village had a professional taxidermist. Obsessive Victorian collectors who wanted Britain's rarest and most beautiful animals killed for their elaborate cabinet displays fueled trade especially. Owls and other raptors were highly prized.

This urge to shoot and stuff the contents of the countryside began to wane after the First World War. Bird taxidermy fell further out of fashion as the conservation movement gained momentum. Yet today taxidermy is back in vogue.

David Leggett, who runs Wild Art Taxidermy, near Cambridge, England, represents a new breed of taxidermist. All the animals he works on have died through accident or natural causes. His order book is full; more than 90 percent consists of roadkill.

Leggett, a taxidermist for almost 20 years, said: "The trade was frowned upon when I first started. People presumed these birds had been trapped, shot, or taken in some other illegal way. But in recent years there's definitely been a resurgence of interest."

He believes this is partly because of an increasing awareness that there's a plentiful supply of birds that have met an unfortunate, but accidental, end. In fact, they are all too visible, lying there along the roadside.

Deaths have risen in proportion to traffic volume and the construction of major roads, according a 15-year study into declining barn owl populations published last November.

Produced by the Barn Owl Trust (BOT), a conservation charity based in Ashburton, Devon, England, it suggests 72 percent of barn owls are killed when they encounter a major road.

Rising Death Toll

Since 1959, over 9,000 kilometers (5,600 miles) of roads and highways have been built in Britain. Before 1954 the proportion of recorded barn owl deaths due to road traffic stood at six percent. By the 1990s, says the study, this had risen to 50 percent. During the same period U.K. traffic volume rose ten-fold.

The barn owl was Britain's most common owl in the early 19th century. Today things are very different; only an estimated 4,000 breeding pairs remain. Though other factors, such as habitat loss, have played their part, conservationists say these road losses have had a huge impact.

This isn't to say other raptors haven't suffered on the roads. Leggett points to studies that suggest that in some years more than 100,000 immature tawny owls (Strix aluco) are killed by traffic. This species has around 75,000 breeding pairs, however, and seems able to absorb such losses.

After owls, U.K. government figures identify kestrels, common buzzards, and peregrine falcons as other raptors most likely to end up as roadkill. Leggett agrees, based on the evidence of birds people bring to his studio.

He said: "If people find a dead bird of prey, they'd rather keep it than throw it in the dustbin. They all say the same thing: They want this beautiful animal preserved. Taxidermy gives them that opportunity."

He says commissions often come from people who spend a lot of time on the road, such as sales reps.

Other birds come from animal rescue centers, where many road causalities are taken but subsequently die. Government scientists are another source, once they have tested roadkill raptors for traces of organochlorines, harmful compounds found in insecticides which tend to accumulate along food-chains.

Contrary to people's perception of roadkill as being horribly squashed, Leggett says most birds aren't hit in direct collisions but caught by traffic turbulence and end up on the road verge.

"They get knocked to the ground by the force of a vehicle going past and are often hardly harmed physically, but die from shock," he added. "They might have the odd broken bone but that's all. From a taxidermists' point of view they're perfect."

Harry Potter

Leggett noticed a big increase in demand for his owls, which retail from £200 (U.S. $365) upwards, following the success of children's author J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter stories. "People would phone me saying, 'Can I have an owl please? Preferably an eagle owl or a snowy owl.' I would point out you don't get many of those lying around British roads, so they settled for a barn or tawny owl."

Unfortunately, in the real world, owls don't possess magical powers. Though the barn owl is a most haunting bird, especially when seen hunting low over meadows at dusk, on slow, noiseless wings, it's defenseless against the thundering highways.

The Barn Owl Trust says the bird is particularly vulnerable on major roads because they have wide verges and embankments dominated by rough grassland. This habitat attracts many small mammals, including the field vole, the barn owl's favorite prey.

In its recent report, the BOT outlines measures it believes could significantly reduce the impact of road traffic on barn owls.

BOT spokeswoman Sue Booth said: "We've recommended changes in agricultural policy that would encourage farmers to provide rough grassland away from major roads. And in order to obstruct low-level flying across [highways] we've suggested putting continuous hedges or closely spaced trees adjacent to the sides of the roads."

Other recommendations include provision of nest boxes away from main roads and changes to government transport policy to reduce the need for additional major roads.

"It's also about raising awareness," Booth added. "For instance, we want highways maintenance staff to keep a record of the road casualties they witness so we can get a more accurate picture of what's going on."

Taxidermists such as Leggett already compile and submit their own lists of roadkill raptors. So while they might be stuffing these birds, they may also be helping towards their conservation.

If this means eventually freeing up some room in his freezer, David Leggett would be the last to complain.