Hotel releases owls in Bali
A Bali hotel partnered with the local community to release owls as part of a conservation effort meant to restore a more natural ecological balance in a tourism hotspot (thebalisun.com). The initiative was framed as a hospitality-led biodiversity project rather than a transport or infrastructure response to the recent disruptions (thebalisun.com).
A Bali hotel has released eight barn owls over rice fields near Ubud in a joint pest-control and conservation project with villagers and an owl foundation. (thebalisun.com) The hotel is Bambu Indah, an eco-focused property outside Ubud that says it works “in harmony with nature.” Local reports said the owls were released on April 6, 2026, in Bongkasa Village, Abiansemal, near the Ayung River. (bambuindah.com, balinews.id) Bambu Indah partnered with the Owl Tower Bali Foundation and the Bongkasa community. Several reports said the goal was to cut rat damage in nearby paddies without relying as heavily on chemical pesticides or poison. (dewata.news, kabarnusa.com) The basic idea is simple: barn owls hunt rodents at night, so farmers use them as living pest control in rice-growing areas. Indonesia’s government information portal says Tyto alba can eat up to five rats in a night. (indonesia.go.id) That approach is not new in Bali. Antara reported in 2016 that farmers in Pagi Village, Tabanan, were already using owls to suppress field pests, and more recent Indonesian coverage has described barn owls as part of wider rodent-control efforts in rice areas. (en.antaranews.com, en.antaranews.com) Researchers have studied the method in Indonesia and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. A Yogyakarta study tied barn owl nest-box occupancy to integrated rat management in rice fields, and other research has reported lower crop damage where owl habitat is established. (academia.edu, academia.edu) The Bali release also fits Bambu Indah’s public identity as a hotel tied to farming and land stewardship. The property says guests can help harvest rice paddies, and it promotes biodynamic produce grown on site. (bambuindah.com, bambuindah.com) Bali’s tourism industry has been pushing a sustainability message as visitor numbers and hotel development rebound, and this owl release gives that pitch a concrete shape: a hotel funding a farm-side biodiversity project instead of a guest amenity. (traveldailymedia.com, thebalisun.com) The next test is whether the owls stay, hunt, and breed in the area’s paddies and nest sites. If they do, the release turns a luxury hotel’s sustainability branding into a working piece of farm infrastructure. (ketutliyer.com), (ingentaconnect.com))
