12 year old Christian Karren represented Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue organization at the annual Sonoma County Grape Grower Day. He was taking his message of best practices of owl conservation for vineyards. Christian talked to farmers on how barn owls are an excellent alternative to harmful rodenticides otherwise known as rat poison (used to kill gophers). Rodenticides weaken the rodents before killing them, making them slow and attractive to predators. Then, when they are caught and eaten, the poison spreads and kills the predators of the rodents. This makes the rodent problem even worse, because there are fewer predators to control their population. Instead of using cruel poisons, whose effects spread beyond your intentions, Christian recommends an approach of using owls. This is a systemic way of thinking about pests in the environment, which addresses the root of the problem instead of only the symptoms.