**7. Concluding remarks**

There are a few regions of the world where owls have had quite the impact that they have on African societies. By understanding the patterns of owl killings and use for witchcraft in old times and even today, we might be able to understand better our cultural past in this modern world. For witchcraft purposes, owls are collected dead or alive; often, they are road kills, but sometimes, owls are also especially killed for the bewitching medicine. Witchdoctors do not aim for any particular species and may not cause so much damage to the rarest species. More dangerous are people who catch the owls to be eaten or used for traditional medicine. The killing of the African Grass Owl, African Marsh Owl, Anjouan Scops Owl, Grande Comore Scops Owl, Madagascar Red Owl, Mohéli Scops Owl, and Rufous Fishing Owl, to name a few rarest species, can be devastating because the hungry person or medicine man does not know the owl species. The haunted house story from Mozambique is a sad example of how strong superstitions still govern many people's lives.

There is no scientific evidence to support any of the superstitions or traditional medicine's effectiveness to continue using, killing, or being afraid of owls. So, one would like to argue that although these traditions are very deep and difficult to change, education or sensitization programs can contribute to visualizing these species from a different perspective and so be able to protect them [43, 44].

There has been a remarkable project in Zambia, where the Ornithological Society organized the "Owls Want Lowing Survey" (OWLS) involving schoolchildren (7th–8th graders) from various tribes. Children asked their village elders about old stories and

folklore on owls but had their educated views to complement the picture. The results were published as a book in 1999 [45]. Similar projects could be undertaken in other African countries to better understand and protect the owls.
