Florida Atlantic University gets nod from FWC to destroy protected Owl habitat

By Staci-lee Sherwood

Contrary to what the public thinks (hopes) the word ‘protection’ means little to the government agencies paid by taxpayers to protect something.  This is clearly on display in Florida and has been a growing global trend for years.  Despite a species of either animal or plant receiving legal status as threatened or endangered  little is actually done to protect them from manmade harm. The latest example are the Burrowing  Owls . Under federal law, the U.S. Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and Florida law (Chapter 68A-27) they are suppose to be protected unless you pay for a permit and then the state overrides the federal law and protection is removed.

If you’re reading this and think owls and tortoises don’t matter to me or Florida is the problem think again.  Developers have co-opted all levels of government and many nonprofits so this is a national and global crisis.  Development under the ruse of ‘progress’ or ‘improvement’ affects not just all wildlife and drinking water but your health, quality of life and property value.  All those drop with development because who wants to live in a noisy polluted area?

In 2023 a National Geographic article written by Uma Raja touted Florida Atlantic University (FAU) owl policy stating “The owls determine where FAU can construct new buildings, and even how the school cuts its grass. Areas densely populated by owls are weedwhacked by hand four times a year, while maintaining a 33-foot distance from all burrows during the breeding season.”  Adding  “While FAU has now grown to over 30,000 students, its tiny ground owls remain a unique part of the school’s history and environment. And as a school where 80 percent of students commute, the burrowing owls—like the basketball team itself—add a sense of unity, spirit, and togetherness.”  Ms Raja failed to research the truth about FAU and their stadium. Seems FAU board and staff forgot what they said 2 years ago……

https://www.fau.edu/artsandletters/in-the-news/in-the-news/pdf/not-just-a-mascot-national-georgraphic-2023.pdf

What are Burrowing Owls

Burrowing owls are among the smallest of owls who live much of their life in underground burrows, making them unique among all other owl species.  Life in a burrow requires the pair to use their beaks to dig while their feet kick soil away from the entrance.  It can be a lot of work for a bird that stands less than 10” and weighs about 6 lbs. They often dig burrows near other active burrows though they don’t group nest like bird colonies.  Instead they live in loose colonies in open habitat where they sometimes dig multiple burrows.  Abandoned owl burrows are used by gopher tortoises, squirrels and insects, in the west prairie dogs might use them.

Adorable… yes, but also vital to a healthy ecosystem.  Though diminutive in size they are fierce predators helping to keep the rodent and insect population in check without the use of toxic rodenticide, which kills thousands of owls every year.  Listed as a threatened species their population is rapidly declining due to development and habitat destruction.  Despite the federal USFWS (US Fish Wildlife Service) and state FWC (Florida Wildlife Commission) knowing this they allow for their removal and destruction of their ever disappearing habitat.  So much for the law of protection…..

A Burrowing Owl family at their burrow.  Burrows are used year round by owls, or tortoises.  They lay their eggs, raise their young and sleep there.  Burrows are also used as protection from the weather and predators.  This area is called the ecological site a tiny strip of land next to the Boca Raton airport.  FAU Boca Raton campus May 2025.

A  Burrowing Owlet stands watch before fledging.  FAU Boca Raton campus May 2025

Home is no longer home

When we think of a home we envision a safe haven.  This is also true for wildlife who painstakingly take time to scope out potential homes for nesting, rearing of young and sleep.  Currently federal agencies have been crippled to be ineffective so no federal law protecting any animal/water source/open public land is being enforced.  It’s basically the wild west for developers/miners/drillers and polluters, just look around you.   FAU just applied for and got a ‘take’ permit to remove the owls from their homes with zero action for relocating them to a similar habitat.  This is fake conservation at its finest in Florida.

I spoke with Ricardo Zambrano, bird biologist from FWC, to clarify what if anything is being done for displaced owls and tortoises.  Zambrano said that no one was allowed to touch the owls, meaning no one is trapping them for relocation.  As you listen he basically said FAU staff will just walk up to the burrow and when the owl flies away they can fill it in and the owl will fly to another place and dig a new burrow.  Burrows are used year round so the owl isn’t vacating his home he’s flying away until you leave, big difference.  He also said the owls are not banded or tracked which means no one has a clue what happens to them. 

This is the legal loophole for FAU and FWC, if a banded owl turned up dead might be a legal problem but an unmarked owl disappears without a trace.  As for the tortoises they can’t even fly to another location.  Sounds like he stumbled on answering the question what happens to the tortoises when their burrows are filled in?  It’s a challenge under the best of circumstances to get government to answer anything.  This is what passes for ‘conservation’ in Florida and other places in 2025.  Legal protection exists solely on paper. 

Click video to listen what FWC biologist Ricardo Zambrano has to say about the FAU Burrowing Owls and Gopher Tortoises

In 2002 Carl Hiaasen wrote a book, made into a movie, called HOOT about a family that saves Burrowing Owls from construction. 

Let’s not forget that protected endangered gopher tortoises also use these burrows once the owls have abandoned a particular burrow.  In Florida all a builder or homeowner needs to do is buy a ‘take’ permit from FWC for as little as a few hundred dollars and they are legally allowed to fill in the burrow, often while the tortoise is in it leaving them to slowly die. Yes this is what FWC calls CONservation and they have an annual budget of over $100,000,000 to play with.  Many times builders and construction workers bypass the permitting and destroy the burrow without a permit and yes FWC knows this goes on.

A Gopher Tortoise male tries to coax the female out of her burrow.  Unlike the owls, they’re even more difficult to relocate and when displaced by humans can’t just find another place to dig a burrow when they are surrounded by highways, bridges and buildings.

FAU destroyed valued ancient land for football

Aside from supposedly protected burrowing owls and gopher tortoises the state endemic (means only found here) protected florida scrub jay also had a home at FAU.  According to retired FAU Professor Edward Petuch “I loved having the Audubon Preserve there because I would use it as an on-campus field trip---It was an intact Pleistocene-Holocene sandy scrubland, and the students could get a feel of what Florida looked like before any humans were here. I proposed setting it aside as a Pleistocene preserve but was laughed at by the Faculty Senate and the FAU Board of Regents.  Apparently money and football prestige was more important to them.  What’s left of the once-extensive scrubland, with its thriving Scrub Jays, Gopher Tortoises, and Burrowing Owls, is now just a thin strip that isn’t large enough to sustain anything.  At least I have the memories.”  The FAU Owls football team hasn’t ranked in the top 5 since 2020, not much prestige there.

Petuch went on to say “I was a professor at FAU before they built the stadium---it was previously a designated Audubon Society Wildlife Refuge, primarily for gopher tortoises and burrowing owls.  Also some rare coastal sand dune plants and other endangered organisms.  It was a living lab for the FAU students and it was a real treasure.  The administration, under President Catanese, wanted to make lots of money for the university, especially with football games.  So they built the stadium right on top of the Audubon preserve and we would find lost tortoises walking aimlessly around the campus---some eventually being run over by cars. “   In 2003 the Sun Sentinel wrote an expose on how FAU’s charity foundation chief Carla Coleman had  illegally funneled $42,000, the cost of a red corvette sports car which was a parting gift to Catanese,  through the foundation. Coleman’s attorney said that some board members and Catanese knew of this arrangement.  So maybe no surprise he favored money from football over science and conservation.

Years ago there was protection and now it’s all but gone. “The owls used to be so abundant that they were nesting in any open grass area around campus, they would always put a red flag where their nests were located, so that landscapers wouldn’t run them over with lawn mowers. Then, because the territories and burrows of remaining tortoises were so compressed they were packed together and all got a reptilian pneumonia, with most dying.  It was one of the saddest things that I’ve ever seen.  It’s just a matter of habitat loss; what’s available to the owls and tortoises today is a tiny amount compared to what I saw there in the 1980s when I started as an Assistant professor. “  When I got to Florida in 2007 I remember seeing the owls all over the campus and now it’s down to just a few.

You can’t discredit someone who knows what they’re talking about, author of 28 books helping to put FAU on the science map.

I spoke with another professor who still teaches at FAU (I will call him John Doe since I wouldn’t want the school to fire someone for speaking the truth) said this about the owls “Yes I have seen a decline too.  From doing a survey of owls a few years ago, I noticed that they are found in less manicured places, which are especially disfavored in S FL!  So there are two causes of habitat loss: destruction for “development”, and “improvement” (making rough areas into manicured lawns).   Overall the population will decline as suitable habitat is lost, there will be fewer owls alive, they wont have moved.”  He added this about the pair of coyotes living there “I haven’t seen the coyotes in a while, but I hope they are doing well.  Whenever F&W catches them, they are killed and I hope that wasn’t their fate.  I’m sure they would have no qualms about moving the tortoises too, though those will stay close to the release point.”

FAU once had a thriving population of endangered endemic Florida Scrub Jays.  Despite FWC’s program of banding the jays there’s little else they do to protect them.  Loss of habitat, mostly to development, mean less birds.

Aerial shot of the now former living lab & preserve in 2011 after stadium was built.  You can see how little habitat is left for owls and tortoises.  Photo by Central Civil construction

Why is FAU allowed to destroy protected habitat & species

To understand why and how FAU is allowed to ‘remove’ and pave over wildlife habitat you must first understand what agency gave them approval.  The agency pretending to be in charge of wildlife is Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).  Arguably one of the most corrupted and useless government agencies I’ve ever had to work with, and I’ve worked with dozens of state and federal agencies for over 30 years.  The FWC commissioners are ALL developers and or hunters so their decisions are shrouded in fake conservation but their real agenda is helping developers.  One can assume they too pocket some cash on the side otherwise why yield every vote every decision to them?  

Fun fact: as of July 2025, 800 FWC officers are trained and paid to focus on immigration not wildlife, this political decision is about $$$ not conservation.

In keeping with pro-development policy FWC has approved massive development in federally protected endangered panther habitat, is currently hoping for a massacre of black bears where new development is proposed and has never done anything about light pollution killing most of the federally protected endangered sea turtle hatchlings (I spent 11 years working on FWC permits to save sea turtles), so yes I personally know all of this to be true and sadly much more.

Meaningless sign with zero protection.  Photo credit Michael Cook

A pair of Coyotes made their home in the thick bushes, another area of FAU protected land where burrows used by both Burrowing Owls and Gopher Tortoises were, until the Coyotes were….likely removed or killed which is usually the case, to make way for construction.  Since 1969 many laws were passed to protect a variety of species of animals and plants.  However, ever since all those laws have been defunded, re-written for benefit of developers/miners and polluters, to make them functionally void.   For a species not listed as protected their fate is even worse.

A Coyote rests for a moment unaware of the construction that will displace him in a few weeks.   FAU campus December 2024

The FAU Board of Trustees

Ironically FAU uses the Burrowing Owl as its mascot and because they have no shame will likely continue.  Here are the members of the board, appointed by the Governor who is blatantly pro development and anti anything and anyone who questions that.  During his first campaign he made lame promises to protect the drinking water of over 20,000,000 residents and millions of yearly visitors, only to stop a few months after election.  After all the show need not continue once elected . It’s no surprise the entire state of Florida is under construction.

Ironic

Meet the Board of Trustees:

Mr. Piero Bussani, Chair -  works for Homebound a tech-powered homebuilding company

Mr. Robert Flippo, Chair, Audit and Compliance – CEO of MobileHelp LLC

Shaun Davis -  founder of S. Davis and Associates, P.A.

Jon Harrison - Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of the Navy

Mr. Brad Levine – works for tech company Tellus and President of Tarpon Dreams, LLC, a luxury real estate company

J. Scott McCleneghen, Chair, Community and Governmental Relations - is Executive Vice President for SE Florida Pro CRE at First Horizon Bank

Sherry Murphy, Vice Chair, Chair, Academic and Student Affairs - Chief Revenue Officer at MRI Software

Pablo E. Paez, Chair, Budget and Finance Committee - serves as Exe VP of Corporate Relations for GEO  (private rehab and prison group)

Mr. Jonathan Satter, Chair, Strategic Planning Committee – COO & Managing Director of White Wolf Capital Group

Mrs. Linda Stoch, Chair, Personnel and Compensation -  retired business owner

William Trapani, Faculty Senate President -  professor at FAU since 2009 before the stadium was built

Ms. Tina Vidal-Duart -  CEO of CDR Health Care, Inc.

Where are all the bird groups like Audubon?

In 1971 the Audubon Society declared FAU a Burrowing Owl sanctuary, and haven’t done much to protect it since .  If you’re a Purple Martin their program is real conservation but if you’re a big college or developer not much of a fight.  In 2014 FAU built their football stadium thinking it would reap lots of $$ (which it failed to do) they built it on what had been green space filled with 300 species of animals and plants, many protected including Burrowing Owls and Gopher Tortoises.  Audubon did little to stop it. The habitat had been 120 acres and served as a living research lab for their science and biology students.  Logic would dictate protection but money always wins in the end. 

I spoke with Kristen Kosik of Audubon Florida who had this to say, and suggesting it was up to the public to save the owls  “Unfortunately, under current Florida law, FAU is appropriately permitted to relocate the owls, meaning there are no legal grounds to challenge their project. Accordingly, any changes to the project to reduce/remove impacts to owls would need to be voluntary on the part of FAU.  Certainly, public opinion may be motivating for them.”

When I asked about Audubon fighting to save the preserve Petuch added “There was very muted protest by National Audubon, but they didn’t throw their full weight behind the preservation of the refuge.“  You would think they would have fought to save their namesake.  I contacted Tropical Audubon who told me “We were on Channel 10 news story about it.  We are concerned about the owls.  Stay tuned for messaging on our social media channels.”  Scrolling through their Facebook page there isn’t 1 post about the owls, plenty about trips, food and gardens.  I, too, have been on the news and in the papers and spoke at countless hearings over the years which does squat without a big noisy lawsuit.

Petuch added  “All the protesting came from the students and some of the Biology Department faculty that’s all.  The entire administration, including the Dean of College of Science, never said a thing.  One day they just started to bulldoze the scrub forest down and that was it. “

From my experience whatever is reported, the actual numbers are usually worse.  Petuch witnessed the horror firsthand “I imagine thousands of animals were buried alive and/or had their homes destroyed all for a football stadium which has never brought that much money in.  I was hoping they would have built the stadium over where the Engineering Building is now---that was all open land all the way to the President’s  Mansion but I guess the president didn’t want to have to see it, so the animals and rare plants had to die.  It was pretty sickening.”

FAU has been surrounded by controversy despite the media blackout

To get a clear picture of the priorities at FAU, and probably most colleges today, Petuch had this bit of history to add “Ever since they brought in the Dean at the time, the college just went downhill.  He was hired to harness the business potential of the ‘lazy’ faculty, everything was money to him and he said that the new paradigm at FAU was making money.  That was right before the stadium was built and he did nothing to try to modify it or protect the preserve.  So the history of FAU is filled with stuff like this. “

Destroying protected habitat is just one among many controversies FAU has been embroiled in, questioning their ethics, hiring policies and priorities.  They also experiment on critically endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle hatchlings at their Gumbo Limbo lab, but only those of us who worked with Sea Turtles would know that.  The studies are done strictly for money and prestige and do NOTHING for saving the species and yes FWC approves this.  Again, no surprise they’re removing protected wildlife.

According to Kevin Harrish, an alumni, who posted in 2019 a list of several things he hated about FAU a few really stuck out:

• Former FAU President Mary Jane Saunders tried to sell naming rights of their new football stadium, which some comments referred to as Owlcatraz, to the GEO Group, a private prison company.  Later claiming she hadn’t a clue about the company.

• FAU hired  professor James Tracey, who believed that the Sandy Hook shooting of elementary school children was a hoax.  He was later fired.

• FAU hired professor Marshall DeRosa who basically blamed slavery on black people.

You get the point.  FAU seems to demonstrate in their rush to either make money or fill a faculty void they fail to consider the broader implications.  If you are a high schooler, parent or anyone concerned about what is happening at our places of academia take note. Is FAU or any college that makes sweeping decisions like this, a place you want to attend and spend money for?  Is this a place you would be proud to be an alumni from ?

It’s never too late to speak up contact the following

*Andrew LaPlant, Director, Board of Trustees Operations & Board Liaison Office of the President   - ask they either move construction away from the owl habitat or relocate the owls in partnership with a legitimate group like Project Perch or Audubon  561.297.3450 alaplant@fau.edu 

 *Valery E. Forbes serves as Dean of the College of Science., her assistant

Kacey Walker, 561-297-3288, kaceywalker2020@fau.edu 

*Audubon ask they file a lawsuit and get an injunction to stop construction & that the owls be relocated

State chapter - Julie Wraithmell 850.339.5009  jwraithmell@audubon.org 

Tropical Audubon 305.667.7337  communications@tropicalaudubon.org

*Sign these petitions

https://www.change.org/p/save-fau-burrowing-owls?source_location=search (new one)

https://www.change.org/p/protect-our-campus-s-burrowing-owls-threatened-by-fau-s-new-dorm-development

*FWC  biologist for Burrowing Owls Nick Jennings  and ask why protected wildlife can be displaced and killed for the price of a ‘take’ permit Nicholas.Jennings@MyFWC.com 

Read more here about the plight of burrowing owls https://www.sealemout.com/post/burrowing-owls-are-dying-how-poisoned-rats-are-killing-florida-s-wildlife-and-what-you-can-do

Share the message that development is not progress and rarely brings anything positive especially when it cost lives

Also published on The Good Men Project on September 22, 2025

https://www.flcompanyregistry.com/company?utm_source=port-1850-llc