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To protect an endangered owl species, government biologists propose killing off other owls
NBC News / Comcast ^ | December 25, 2023 | By Evan Bush

Posted on 12/25/2023 5:40:52 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer

The survival of one owl species hinges on the demise of another.

That’s what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues in its proposal to allow the agency to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls over the next 30 years in West Coast forests. The service says the barred owl, which is not native to the region, is crowding out the spotted owl, a close genetic relative.

Without action against the barred owls, service biologists say the spotted owl could disappear from parts of Washington and Oregon within a few years and eventually go extinct.

The proposal is the latest in a series of efforts to save the spotted owl, whose decline became a rallying point for environmentalists opposed to logging in the Pacific Northwest in the 1980s.

Human influence — as European settlers spread west — likely caused the barred owl to colonize the Pacific Northwest. Now, the proposal raises questions about how far people should go to save a species and the costs of righting a historic ecological wrong.

“It’s not the barred owls’ fault. It’s our fault for bringing them out here. It’s not the spotted owls’ fault either,” said Robin Brown, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who is the agency’s barred owl strategy lead. “The species’ future is extinction if we don’t manage barred owls. The writing is on the wall.”

The agency’s proposal, which calls for a total of more than 470,000 barred owls to be “lethally removed” — killed with shotguns — remains in draft form and is open for public comment through Jan. 16.

(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: owls
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1 posted on 12/25/2023 5:40:52 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Nothing could go wrong here.


2 posted on 12/25/2023 5:45:18 AM PST by AndyJackson
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

What if the government employees shoot the Spotted Owls by mistake?


3 posted on 12/25/2023 5:46:15 AM PST by MtnClimber (For photos of Colorado scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

They jut don’t get. Ask the Aussies about messing with the natural order of things.


4 posted on 12/25/2023 5:46:24 AM PST by mad_as_he$$
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Screw the owls, Let’s kill all the musilms to protect humanity.


5 posted on 12/25/2023 5:48:43 AM PST by Dandy (Drain the swamp baby!!!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Here we go with the spotted owl again. Why not just let nature take its course? If they need so much protection from humans all the time maybe they should go the way of the Dodo bird rather than kill a bunch of other birds to save them.


6 posted on 12/25/2023 5:48:56 AM PST by Telepathic Intruder
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Spots or Barred. Still taste like chicken.


7 posted on 12/25/2023 5:49:51 AM PST by dynachrome (War does not determine who is right, but who is left.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Idiocy on parade.


8 posted on 12/25/2023 5:50:05 AM PST by Flycatcher (God speaks to us, through the supernal lightness of birds, in a special type of poetry.)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Coming soon to an ethnic cleansing near you. 🙄


9 posted on 12/25/2023 5:50:28 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“...hundreds of thousands of barred owls over the next 30 years...”

Put another way you’ve got 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, etc. years of gummit involvement, 100’s of new government union employees with benefits most of us will never get ad infinitum as we pay for them, DEI style of course because of an owl problem. Another three-letter agency that needs its budget chopped in half forever.


10 posted on 12/25/2023 5:51:06 AM PST by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute. )
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

11 posted on 12/25/2023 5:51:43 AM PST by Libloather (Why do climate change hoax deniers live in mansions on the beach?)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

how far people should go to save a species and the costs of righting a historic ecological wrong.
....................................

This is the key phrase. This is “environmental justice,” much like “social justice,” just another tactic to take our money and make way for Marx.


12 posted on 12/25/2023 5:52:29 AM PST by ViLaLuz (2 Chronicles 7:14)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

“Owls”


13 posted on 12/25/2023 5:53:00 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: AndyJackson

Yes, what could go wrong? When this kind of tampering is done, the results are rarely what was intended or expected. Whether we like the outcome or not, nature at least always attains an equilibrium.


14 posted on 12/25/2023 5:54:57 AM PST by Spok (It takes a lot of learning to understand how little we know. (Paraphrasing Thomas Sowell.))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Evolutionist making their own results. What hypocrites!


15 posted on 12/25/2023 5:55:06 AM PST by Mlheureux
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To: Telepathic Intruder
Why not just let nature take its course?

Exactly. Species have been displacing other species forever. Most species that ever existed have gone extinct. If the barred owl is better at doing owl stuff, it will win out eventually no matter what.

16 posted on 12/25/2023 5:59:07 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

The inmates are indeed running the asylum.


17 posted on 12/25/2023 6:02:19 AM PST by bk1000 (Banned from Breitbart)
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Is anyone else rooting for the Barred Owl like I am?


18 posted on 12/25/2023 6:03:19 AM PST by rlmorel ("The stigma for being wrong is gone, as long as you're wrong for the right side." (Clarice Feldman))
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To: Oldeconomybuyer

Haven’t they heard of Darwinian Evolution?

Survival of the fittest?

Is the Spotted Owl the American version of the Chinese panda?

Unable to survive without human intervention?


19 posted on 12/25/2023 6:05:59 AM PST by Chickensoup
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To: Oldeconomybuyer
The stupid should have been bred out of people but we banned stupid removers like ,

bullies in school, lawn jarts, bb guns, biking without a helmet,

anti stupid laws added " do not eat" labels to items like laundry detergent,

they banned dodgeball. ugh.

stupid has florished in a bubble wrapped childhood. now they cant cross the street without a light. and kill one owl to save another.

20 posted on 12/25/2023 6:06:20 AM PST by Ikeon (I stopped going to my family doctor whenever I felt sick. I've never been healthier. .)
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