Irene, I've never heard of owls being trained for rodent catching, although
you'd think some nocturnally inclined falconer (owler?) would have come up
with this. I don't know why they couldn't be trained like a hawk, perhaps
just the problem of finding your bird again at night!

In oil palm plantations in southeast Asia there are programs involved in
putting out nest boxes for barn owls, so they can catch at least some of
the rats that eat the oil palm fruits (which yield the commercial product).

Dennis Paulson, Director phone: (206) 756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax: (206) 756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail: dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416