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Posted on 08/07/2026 11:46:40 AM PDT by DFG
A federal campaign to kill nearly a half-million barred owls in the Pacific Northwest to save threatened spotted owls continues, even though the recent lifting of protections for spotted owl habitat defeats the entire purpose, an animal welfare advocate says.
It’s costing the government roughly $3,000 per bird to have barred owls shot, Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Centre for a Humane Economy, told Cowboy State Daily.
And with a recent move to weaken the habitat protection element of the Endangered Species Act, it could be all for nothing if spotted owls’ old-growth forest habitat gets logged, he added.
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s barred owl population appears to be growing and might include four pairs in the Grand Teton area, Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Centre, told Cowboy State Daily.
There’s virtually no chance spotted owls will ever come to Wyoming, he added.
That means that Wyoming’s barred owls are safe from getting shotgunned to protect spotted owls.
What’s the Point Now?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) sparked controversy in early 2025 by rolling out a plan for permitted shooters into Pacific Northwest coastal forests to kill up to 470,000 barred owls. They’re larger than spotted owls and reportedly have been hogging their food.
A new wrinkle was added in July, when FWS finalized a scaling back of habitat protections under the ESA.
Effective Sept. 14, the change rescinds the regulatory definition of "harm", eliminating blanket protections for threatened species, and streamlines critical habitat exclusions.
Pacelle said rescinding “harm” from the ESA could throw spotted owl habitat open for logging.
In essence, barred owls are being “framed” for damage spotted owls are suffering from habitat loss, he said.
What’s more, he argues that the killing program is expensive.
The Hoppa Valley Tribe received a $4.5 million grant to kill 1,500 barred owls, Pacelle said.
That’s about $3,000 for each owl shot, he said.
A request for comment from FWS wasn’t answered by publication time.
‘Biologically Ignorant Statement’
Barred owls are originally from the eastern United States, but they’ve been moving west, claiming new territory.
In the Pacific Northwest, they’ve been dubbed an “invasive species", which has been used to justify killing them, Pacelle said.
However, he says it’s more a case of the species naturally expanding its territory.
Bedrosian said little is known about the history of barred owls in Wyoming. Another species, the great grey owl, is native to the state.
Great grey owls, barred owls and spotted owls all belong to the same family, he said.
Barred owls are smaller than great grey owls but they’re also more aggressive, he said.
Hearty Eaters Two known nesting pairs of barred owls in Wyoming are known. One produced offspring two years ago, Bedrosian said.
Researchers recently discovered evidence of barred owl activity in two additional territories, which might indicate two more pairs have moved in, he added.
Researchers have captured four barred owls and placed radio transmitters on them to track their movements.
They’ve also set up recording devices in the barred owl's territories.
Recordings help researchers determine “species richness” or the number of different species in an area, he said.
And it will also help determine if “there are any species of songbirds, or other birds, that are avoiding the barred owls,” he said.
Barred owls are voracious opportunists, Bedrosian said.
“They eat reptiles, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and small rodents,” he said.
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$3,000 per bird!?!
I bet a $1,000 bounty would bring in a lot more of them!
Only a government bureaucrat would come up with that solution................
Some animals are more equal than other animals. OTOH, they sould be as aggreesive with the Yellostone buffalo herd
The rodent population will explode as a result. No brainer, Einstein!
Whatever happened to “survival of the fittest???”
In one of the grandstanding attempts to complain about wastes of government tax money a politician pointed to “program collecting and studying owl spit” as waste.
Turns out every few minutes owls “spit” and their saliva on the ground can show contents of their stomachs. A lot of tiny bones from mice, various types of seeds and nuts, roots and other items mean the owl population is thriving. Having mainly tree bark means the owls are desperately trying to survive in a declining environment. Shows the condition of the forests.
Environmentalists are big on preserving nature as it evolves. Evolution in people, amongst that ilk, is considered a mantra.
So the barred owl naturally moved west and is taking over the spotted owl territory. That’s nature and evolution
But that is not to be allowed by the hypocrite environmentalists. The spotted owl was and is used to halt ALL logging and forestry. It must be preserved to maintain that lever.
Spoiler: It will be the AI tech world of the near future.
End of human race.
The Barred Owl and the Spotted Owl are the same species.
How do you find these owls 50 miles into the middle of the forests?
Less effective than the Vax.
Logging has absolutely nothing to do with the Spotted Owl’s extinction. It is fake science to stop logging.
If survival of the fittest is science;
And invasive species are the fittest compared to the native species;
Then is it anti-science to kill the invasive species?
Or are we humans the ultimate invasive species so we can make up our own rules...whatever is convenient at the moment?
Having spent 40 years in the forest products industry and 3 in the Washington state senate on the natural resources committee staff, I agree.
The spotted owl is about power and control. As a Green Peace leader told me, the spotted owl is used as an "indicator" specie to define the forest's health as they see it. Key: as they see it.
Indeed, and I've read that they can interbreed. The spotted owl is just smaller and not as aggressive as the barred owl. The latter moved west with settlers as their fields and barns provided food for the owls. If I was a farmer during that time and even today, I'd want an aggressive bird predator that could rid my farm and crops of rodents.
I would love to have one on my property. Majestic birds.
Government bureaucrats never met an aspect of nature they couldn’t control with their superior intellect.
The real victims are those forced to buy more expensive housing and those who could be reducing fire severity and growing better trees with a more diverse groundcover for insects and wildlife. It is an industry that could exist but for this kind of resource racketeering.
Kill off one species to save another, in the end both are gone.
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