The Owl Foundation is a registered Canadian charitable organization focused on helping wild Canadian owls that are injured or orphaned. The Foundation operates an owl rehabilitation centre located in the Niagara Peninsula, Ontario, Canada.

We help owls that are injured, diseased or starving, to get back to a condition where they can survive on their own and can be released. Some owls with permanent disabilities that are otherwise healthy are kept and used as foster parents, raising orphaned owl chicks in natural-type enclosures. Once old enough, these young birds learn to hunt live prey while still in captivity. The young owls are released when they are able to survive on their own. Where suitable pairs can be formed among the owls with permanent disabilities, the birds are given the opportunity and conditions to breed and raise their own young, which are later released. We provide spacious outdoor enclosures for the owls, permitting flight over a distance and providing a variety of perches and degrees of cover.

We receive many injured and orphaned owls each year. Injuries are most often the result of being hit by vehicles and occur predominently when owls are hunting near roads. Volunteer drivers transport owls to the Foundation and our staff work closely with a number of veterinarians to provide treatment to owls in distress.

We have experience with all Canadian owl species. Many of these are represented among the permanent residents, including migratory species and those that breed in the far north. When owls of northern species are released, they are shipped by air to volunteers in suitable northern locations for release. All other species are released within a reasonable distance of where they were recovered.

The Owl Foundation employs 4 people, but also relies on volunteer effort in many ways. Most of the Foundation's funding comes from individuals, with some from corporations and granting foundations.

The Owl Foundation was founded by Kay and Larry McKeever in the 1970's and they have received awards and honorary degrees for their work. Originally The Owl Foundation was an Ontario non-profit corporation and was called the Owl Rehabilitation Research Foundation. It was re-incorporated in 1994 under federal law as a Canadian non-profit corporation, with the current name.

You can contact The Owl Foundation by mail at:

The Owl Foundation
R.R. 1
Vineland Station, Ontario
L0R 2E0

Or by email at:
owlmail@sympatico.ca