To save the endangered spotted owl from extinction, American conservationists have come up with a controversial plan: hire trained marksmen to take out the species’ rivals.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s strategy, released Wednesday, aims to boost declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California.
Trained marksmen are deployed in the dense forests of the West Coast to kill nearly half a million tawny owls that are crowding out their endangered counterparts.
Documents released by the agency show that approximately 450,000 tawny owls would be shot over the next 30 years. The move is intended to level the playing field after the invasive owl species from the eastern U.S. invaded the western region.
Both smaller native owls of the Pacific coast, the northern spotted owls and California Spotted Owlsproved no match for the invasion of barred owls, which breed in larger numbers and require less space to survive.
To save the endangered spotted owl from possible extinction, American conservationists are embracing a controversial plan: hire trained marksmen to kill its rivals. Above, wildlife technician Jordan Hazan records data in a lab from a rival male spotted owl he shot earlier that night.
Previous efforts to save the spotted owl have focused on protecting the forests they inhabit, leading to fierce battles over logging but helping to slow the bird’s decline.
Officials say the increase in the number of tawny owls in recent years is undermining that earlier work.
“If not actively managed, northern spotted owls will likely become extinct throughout all or most of their range, despite decades of concerted conservation efforts,” said Kessina Lee, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Service supervisor.
But the idea of killing one bird species to save another divides opinion among conservationists and activists.
It is reminiscent of previous government efforts to save West Coast salmon by kill sea lions And cormorants who hunt the fish, and to protect singers by killing cowbirds who lay eggs in the nests of songbirds.
Some proponents reluctantly accepted the tawny owl removal strategy, while others said it was a reckless distraction from needed forest conservation.
“The Fish and Wildlife Service is going from being a protector of wildlife to a persecutor of wildlife,” said Wayne Pacelle, founder of the advocacy group Animal Wellness Action.
Pacelle predicted the program would fail because the agency would be unable to prevent more tawny owls from migrating into areas where others have already been killed.
A barred owl is seen in the woods outside Philomath, Oregon in December 2017. To save the endangered spotted owl from possible extinction, U.S. conservationists are embracing a controversial plan to deploy trained marksmen
Above, an endangered California spotted owl stares back at human observers in California’s Tahoe National Forest, July 12, 2004
The shootings would likely begin next spring, officials said. The barred owls would be lured using bullhorns to broadcast recorded owl calls, then shot at with shotgun blasts. The carcasses would be buried on site.
Sponsors include the American Bird Conservancy and other conservation organizations.
Barred owls don’t belong in the West, said Steve Holmer, vice president of the American Bird Conservancy. Killing them is unfortunate, he added, but reducing their numbers could help them coexist with spotted owls in the long run.
“If the old forests can grow again, hopefully coexistence will be possible and we might not have to do as much,” Holmer said.
Officials say killing the North American tawny owl would reduce the bird’s numbers by less than 1 percent per year.
This is comparable to the risk of extinction of the spotted owl if the problem is not addressed.
Under former President Donald Trump, government officials protection of stripped habitats for spotted owls on behalf of the timber industry.
These measures were reinstated under President Joe Biden after the Interior Department said Trump administration appointees relied on flawed science to justify weakening protections.
Northern spotted owls are federally protected as an endangered species. Federal officials determined in 2020 that their continued decline warranted an upgrade to the more critical designation of threatened. But the Fish and Wildlife Service declined to do so at the time, saying other species took precedence.
Last year, California’s spotted owls were proposed for federal protection. A decision is pending.