Can You "Buy" Wild Animals?

Factual Questions
1

There is a barn owl that lives by me. I live in Chicago so it’s definately an urban environment and not a place you think you’d see a barn owl.

I noticed him about a year and a half ago, I heard a hoot and after looking I saw him. At first I thought he was one of those fake owls, 'cause he barely moves, but if you watch him he does move.

Anyway he’s still there after a year and a half, so I assume he has found food. The city is full of birds and mice and rats, so that shouldn’t be an issue. It may actually be a different owl for all I know, but I’ve only seen one (at least one at a time) and only heard one set of “hoots.”

I got to thinking he’d be a good form of rodent control and maybe pigeon control (or whatever kind of birds they eat).

But how he got there I don’t know. My question is, could you like buy a bunch of barn owls and put them in your back yard? I know there are probably laws against it but birds being birds, certainly fly into unusual areas and find niches.

Another example is I saw a heron in the Chicago River from last April (2008) to November (2008) when I guess it flew on to warmer places.

Let’s say you had a farm, I guess a barn owl would be good but how would you get them on your farm unless you bought one.

2

Depends on the species and location, but you can buy ducks, geese, pigeons, deer, etc. The default rule is that you can buy wildlife, but other rules override the default, like endangered species rules or laws against having dangerous animals.

3

Many farmers buy insects (lady bugs and mantises, for example) that they release into crops to eat pests so the concept of buying a live predator for pest control is pretty common.

I’d never heard of anyone buying a barn owl, but Google has shown me wrong. There’s a site from the UK (http://website.lineone.net/~sheilagre/page6.html) that specifically discusses the fact that it’s illegal to release captive-bred barn owls, but also covers the fact that captive owls outnumber wild ones and that it’s extremely easy to get one.

As far as wild ones go, I’m sure the laws on endangered species would have something to say about catching and moving them.

4

Both Barn Owls and Great Horned Owls are remarkably adaptable and can be found in major metropolitan areas ( especially in and around urban parks or other woodlots ). For example both can be found nesting in NYC.