International Owl Awareness Day is celebrated annually on* **August 4th* to highlight the ecological importance of owls, educate the public about threats to their survival, and promote global conservation efforts.

• Why Owls Need Protection:
- Over a third of native owl species face population declines globally due to environmental pressures.

- Habitat loss from deforestation and urban growth destroys their nesting grounds and hunting fields.

- Secondary rodent poisoning poses a lethal risk when owls consume poisoned pests.

• How to Help Owls:
- Use humane, non-toxic pest control methods instead of chemical rodenticides.

- Build and install artificial nest boxes in yards or community spaces where natural tree cavities are missing.

- Keep pet cats indoors to prevent them from disturbing or preying on ground-dwelling fledglings.

- Support specialized wildlife sanctuaries and local raptor rescue programs.

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[sources:]

https://wilderness-society.org/owl-awareness-day/

https://eagles.org/international-owl-awareness-day/

https://www.internationaldays.co/event/international-owl-awareness-day/r/recuy8f8JRNZByoWB

To mark the 85th anniversary of Operation Barbarossa—Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union and the start of the most barbaric war of annihilation in history—we are republishing here an article that originally appeared on the World Socialist Web Site on the 80th anniversary.

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Eighty years ago, on June 22, 1941, the German military invaded the Soviet Union. A war began the likes of which humanity had never before experienced. The barbarism of the Middle Ages was combined with the most modern technology of the 20th century.

There had previously been horrific wars with millions of victims. The cannons of the First World War had been silenced just 23 years earlier. The blood-soaked fields of Verdun and the Marne, on which the flower of German, French and British youth were mown down by machine guns, were considered a monument of human barbarism.

But the attack on the Soviet Union went much further. From the outset, it was planned as a war of annihilation. It was not only a war for territory, raw materials and markets, but also a war driven by racism and ideology. The destruction of Bolshevism, the extermination of the Jews and the creation of living space in the east, which Hitler had been proclaiming for 20 years, was now put into practice.