I'm pasting an excerpt from an email that I just got below. Extra-credit is available to anyone who can reseach this and explain it in their own words.
From the email:
Owl pellets...
Just got a notice from a vendor today that the owl pellets we use in 5th grade will be in short supply next year. Barn owls, which are the source of the pellets, are going through a natural cyclical decline that happens every 10 years or so.
