\n\t\t\t\t\t\t A Cape Coral resident says burrowing owls in his neighborhood have been repeatedly harassed for at least two years, and he’s trying to look for help. The resident, who asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety, contacted Gulf Coast News on Monday and shared surveillance video that appears to show multiple incidents involving the protected birds\u2019 nesting site near Southwest 51st Street and 24th Place.\u201cThese guys are here, and they\u2019re not causing anybody any harm,\u201d the man said.Burrowing owls are protected under state law. Disturbing or destroying their nests can carry penalties.The resident said the issue started two years ago. He described a prior effort by a local wildlife group to install protective markers near the burrow, which was ultimately unsuccessful.\u201cA couple of years ago, Friends of Wildlife tried to put some sticks out there, but the property owner didn\u2019t want them there, which is their right, so it kind of reached an impasse,\u201d he said.Since then, he said, his cameras have captured repeated disturbances at the site.\u201cIt\u2019s hard to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can hear the owls screaming when they\u2019re being invaded or chased out.\u201dVideo provided by the resident shows what appears to be a dog entering and playing in the owls\u2019 burrow on April 12. Other footage shows vehicles, including a pickup truck towing a boat and a larger truck, driving over or near the nesting area.In one clip, a person can be seen nearby as a vehicle moves across the site.Steve Handy, another Cape Coral resident, said the behavior shown in the videos is troubling.\u201cThey\u2019re just really beautiful animals, beautiful birds,\u201d Handy said. \u201cAnyone who would do something like that, there\u2019s something wrong, they should be left alone and allowed to live peacefully.\u201dThe resident said his goal in coming forward is to bring attention to the issue and stop the disturbances.Gulf Coast News reached out to FWC to see if they are aware that the burrowing owl nest is being harassed. We will provide an update once we hear back. DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tCAPE CORAL, Fla. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
A Cape Coral resident says burrowing owls in his neighborhood have been repeatedly harassed for at least two years, and he’s trying to look for help. <\/p>\n
The resident, who asked not to be identified out of concern for his safety, contacted Gulf Coast News on Monday and shared surveillance video that appears to show multiple incidents involving the protected birds\u2019 nesting site near Southwest 51st Street and 24th Place.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys are here, and they\u2019re not causing anybody any harm,\u201d the man said.<\/p>\n
Burrowing owls are protected under state law. Disturbing or destroying their nests can carry penalties.<\/p>\n
The resident said the issue started two years ago. He described a prior effort by a local wildlife group to install protective markers near the burrow, which was ultimately unsuccessful.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of years ago, Friends of Wildlife tried to put some sticks out there, but the property owner didn\u2019t want them there, which is their right, so it kind of reached an impasse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Since then, he said, his cameras have captured repeated disturbances at the site.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to watch,\u201d he said. \u201cYou can hear the owls screaming when they\u2019re being invaded or chased out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Video provided by the resident shows what appears to be a dog entering and playing in the owls\u2019 burrow on April 12. Other footage shows vehicles, including a pickup truck towing a boat and a larger truck, driving over or near the nesting area.<\/p>\n
In one clip, a person can be seen nearby as a vehicle moves across the site.<\/p>\n
Steve Handy, another Cape Coral resident, said the behavior shown in the videos is troubling.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re just really beautiful animals, beautiful birds,\u201d Handy said. \u201cAnyone who would do something like that, there\u2019s something wrong, they should be left alone and allowed to live peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n
The resident said his goal in coming forward is to bring attention to the issue and stop the disturbances.<\/p>\n
Gulf Coast News reached out to FWC to see if they are aware that the burrowing owl nest is being harassed. We will provide an update once we hear back. <\/p>\n
DOWNLOAD\u202fthe free\u202fGulf Coast News app<\/a>\u202ffor your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app<\/a> to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Cape Coral resident says burrowing owls in his neighborhood have been repeatedly harassed for at least two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":{"0":"post-232016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-coral","8":"tag-cape-coral","9":"tag-cape-coral-headlines","10":"tag-cape-coral-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}