Students make new home for family of owls

SUNRISE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Students at a South Florida school are giving a new home to a family owls who have invaded their school football field.

Students at Piper High in Sunrise took matters into their own hands Thursday morning by giving a pair of burrowing owls a place to call home. "I thought it was awesome that the school wanted to get involved in something like this instead of just moving them off the premises," said student Josh Koenig.

We first met Stan and Gladys a few weeks ago, when news broke that the pair had decided to make the high school's football field their new "love nest."

The owls are listed as a species of special concern, so the school football team are not able to use the field to play or practice.

An avian advocacy group called Project Perch came into action and decided to help the school out. "We provide the supplies, and the kids do all the work, and it's like a real life hoot. It's like these guys trying to save the owls," said Kelly Heffernan.

Students installed an artificial burrow made with a six-foot long PVC pipe on the side of the field's track. "That's the goal of the artificial burrow, to provide them a safe burrow that's already started for them. If it's in tough fill or hard soil, we make it a little bit longer. We try and dig out the end of it. It just makes their job a little bit easier and gives them safety right from the start," said Heffernan.

Student Tiffany Lachhonna is excited to be able to have hands-on experience with these types of birds. "I think this is a very big deal for our school because we've never had something this wonderful happen, and it's a great opportunity to help out our environment," she said.

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