Barn owls are globally distributed apex predators of farmland ecosystems. Their welfare faces growing threats from rodenticide secondary poisoning and habitat loss affecting grassland prey populations.
Barn owl welfare sits at the intersection of agricultural practice and raptor conservation. Secondary rodenticide poisoning causes coagulopathy — impaired blood clotting — that leads to internal hemorrhage, weakness, and death over days to weeks. Individual welfare during this process involves progressive incapacitation and likely suffering before death. The detection of AR residues in the majority of tested barn owls in the UK indicates that poisoning is a near-ubiquitous welfare risk rather than an occasional incident. Habitat loss compounds the problem by reducing prey density and forcing owls to range further into areas with greater rodenticide exposure. Welfare-positive interventions include restricting AR use to professional pest controllers, requiring rodenticide-proof bait stations, and creating rough grassland habitat that supports natural rodent control without chemical intervention. Barn owl nest box programs provide breeding habitat in areas where natural nesting sites have been lost to building renovation.