City sued to protect burrowing owl habitat

A group of conservation and environmental groups sued the City of San Diego a week ago, claiming that the city's development plans at Brown Field would destroy burrowing owl habitat at Brown Field.

Organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity and California Chaparral Institute say that the last remaining large population of burrowing owls is at Brown Field in Otay Mesa.

The groups charge that the owl burrows have been poisoned to eliminate the owls in order to keep from relocating them. The groups also charge that the city's multiple species conservation program was designed to protect burrowing owls and animals and plant found in vernal pools, yet both are on the brink of extinction.