Montreal Gazette - Feeding wild owls may be fun, but it's very harmful

(McGill's David Bird): Today, it is common practice for bird-watchers and bird photographers to attract snowy owls, hawk owls and possibly other boreal owls into proximity with the intention of getting that prizewinning shot.

They simply throw a live mouse procured from a pet shop on the top of the snow crust within plain view of the owl and in a very short time, down comes the owl to grab the easily caught, naive rodent at a time of year when food is scarce.