The US Fish and Wildlife Service has a draft management plan to kill / shoot Barred Owls to save Spotted Owls in the Pacific Northwest. The Spotted Owl is native to this region, and the Barred Owl is encroaching upon their range. I think this plan is morally wrong. NBC News and others have recently reported about this “draft plan”. You may wish to read their news story about the Spotted and Barred Owl conflict.
It is wrong to kill one bird species to save another. This action will teach Barred Owls to fear humans. In addition it was likely humans who messed up the old growth forest habitat with excessive logging. Should we shoot loggers? While you may not agree with me, anyone may comment upon this proposed owl management plan. The comment period closes on January 16, 2024. Most news stories do not include a direct link to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Draft Plan Comment Page. Here is the link:
- Comment upon the Barred Owl / Spotted Owl Draft Mgmt Plan
Thanks so much for the link Rich! Whomever drew up this abhorrent plan should be fired. I hope the comments will somehow help to save the owls.
Maybe they should review what happened when the killed cowbirds to save the warblers. It didn’t turn out so well
The leading owl expert at The International Owl Center has commented on this topic. Go to their website if you’d like to get more information on this difficult situation.
And what’s your plan to save the Spotted Owl? Do nothing? It’s a difficult situation, without easy answers.
Not saying I have a good answer Mike, but when humans “play with nature”, the results are often not optimal. We logged significant regions of old growth forest, which many researchers feel had a very negative effect on the spotted owl. Unfortunately at this point, I would only work on habitat restoration and let nature take its course.
So hurting about this. Thanks for your stand. We need to let live what can live in an environment. All parts of environments are changing. Seems like sped up evolution. It’s frightening, & we humans might not be as smart about it as we think we are. 😢
thank you- this makes me sad
The possibility of the Law of Unintended Consequences becoming a factor in this scenario is very high.