Florida Atlantic University (FAU) is displacing its native neighbor and mascot, the burrowing owl, as the school expands its Boca Raton campus. Once the owls flee, FAU staff fill the empty burrows with sand ahead of construction for a new housing unit.

A five-year plan involves two more fields containing owl habitat, while student activists demand that further development be rerouted and supplemented with conservation efforts. In 2024, the university secured an Incidental Take permit from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), allowing management to “non-lethally harass” burrowing owls to force relocation.

The National Audubon Society designated FAU's Boca Raton campus as an official burrowing owl sanctuary in 1971 .

“To check the burrows, a FWC-trained biolo

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