Steve and tweetsters: I work with owl pellets quite alot and have collected
a few thousand in the last several years. At first I picked them up by hand
and placed them in plastic bags for examination later. As I did more study
and became more familiar with what the experts were saying I became more
cautious. You quoted Long and I think the advice in that book is solid: "use
caution when handling owl pellets". However, from what I've read, in this
area we are more likely to contract salmonella than hanta virus from owl
pellets.

Owl pellets when first regurgitated are covered in a fine slimy film to
facilitate ejection. There is no odor until the pellet starts to
deteriorate. Depending on the location and the weather conditions pellets
start to breakdown quickly. If the pellets are found under a tree or ledge
or on the dirt floor of a building on the west side of the Cascades, they
tend to be moist and consequently, produce little or no dust. If, however,
the pellets are found in a building that is dry or on the east side of the
Cascades there is the real potential for dust production and extra care
should be taken. Obviously, these generalizations have exceptions so the
prudent thing to do would be to wear gloves and a dust mask whenever
possible and wash ASAP! I carry antiseptic handiwipes with me for lots of
good reasons.

Once you've gotten the pellets home you should wrap them in tin foil and
bake them at 300 degrees for 45-60 minutes. This will kill the nasties and
not harm the contents at all. Make sure you wrap the pellet(s) tightly. If
you're in the field and can't wait to get home to bake, you may wrap and
throw into the fire for about 20-30 minutes.

The bottom line is to be safe. I also have handled with my bare hands and to
my knowledge have not suffered any. However, if I were you, Steve, I'd
probably not sniff anymore pellets or combine them with anymore Reese's
Peanut Butter Cups.

I am sorry this is not timely, but my server has been down for over a week
and I was in Oregon birding for a week too!

Darryl Thompson
Edmonds
<birds at cmc.net>








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>From: "Steve T. Zimmerman" <Lerxst at compuserve.com>
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>Hello all,
>
>While checking on the Fall ingress of "my" rattlesnakes
>near Quincy, I found what is apparently a well used
>nesting/roosting site for owls. The cliff face is splattered
>with copious amounts of whitewash, and at the base of the
>cliff, there are literally hundreds of owl pellets. There was
>also what appeared to be a dead baby long-eared owl
>amidst the talus and pellets.
>
>My questions:
>
>1) Is there anyway to tell how recently this site has been
>used by the owls?
>
>2) Is handling the pellets advisable? Sutton and Sutton
>(1994) say that pellets are perfectly safe to handle, but
>Long (1998) says they should only be handled with gloves
>and a dust mask due to the risk of hantavirus, etc.
>
>I handled a number of them at the site, broke several apart,
>sniffed one, and even ate a Reese's peanut butter cup afterward
>without washing my hands!:-) I'm no worse for the wear after
>several weeks. Is it really of any concern? I would
>really like to go through the pellets to see if the owls are
>feeding on snakes and lizards in the area.
>
>Steve Z
>Renton, WA
>
W.Darryl Thompson