Where are you seeing owls being enslaved in the article?
To be honest I only read the title, bumped into a paywall when i clicked the link and couldn't be bothered to put more effort in it.
And even if they were being enslaved, that's better than minefields of (artificial) poison in our (natural) environment.
I do agree on this.
Even if you're a vegan, there's enslaved hordes of plants behind your survival.
But not on this, although i am not gonna argue why slave animals is a thing and slave plants is not a thing.
It's always what's better.
You're right, it's finding the balance - that was the topic of my comment basically.
As a dutchie i'd like to add that autoluwe zones (if done properly) are very much worth copying to other cities!