Posted on 02/28/2012 8:08:37 PM PST by Hunton Peck
To save the imperiled spotted owl, the Obama administration is moving forward with a controversial plan to shoot barred owls, a rival bird that has shoved its smaller cousin aside.
The plan is the latest federal attempt to protect the northern spotted owl, the passive, one-pound bird that sparked an epic battle over logging in the Pacific Northwest two decades ago.
The government set aside millions of acres of forest to protect the owl, but the birds population continues to decline a 40 percent slide in 25 years.
A plan announced Tuesday would designate habitat considered critical for the birds survival, while allowing logging to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire and to create jobs. Habitat loss and competition from barred owls are the biggest threats to the spotted owl.
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar called the draft plan a science-based approach to forestry that restores the health of our lands and wildlife and supports jobs and revenue for local communities.
By removing selected barred owls and better managing forests, officials can give communities, foresters and land managers in three states important tools to promote healthier and more productive forests, Salazar said.
The new plan, which replaces a 2008 Bush administration plan that was tossed out in federal court, affects millions of acres of national, state and private forest land in Washington, Oregon and Northern California.
The plan to kill barred owls would not be the first time the federal government has authorized killing of one species to help another. California sea lions that feast on threatened salmon in the Columbia River have been killed in recent years after efforts to chase them away or scare them failed.
The U.S. Agriculture Department kills thousands of wild animals each year mostly predators such as coyotes to protect livestock. Other...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Honestly, so much has been made of the Spotted Owl, that it’s a no-brainer that an upstart crow like the Barred Owl should be eliminated to make room for our little feathery favorite. I’m sure Darwin and Mother Nature approve. Cuteness should count for something, afterall.
Spots good...
...no spots bad.
It is funny how the leftists who claim to believe in “natural selection” in theory oppose it in actual practice.
This stupid “administration” sees its task as interfering in everything - nature, the free market, peoples’ lives...a sort of earthly cretinous “deity”.
Meh. What’s the big deal? They both taste like chicken...
The spotted owl and the barred owl are cousins and can interbreed. A year or so ago, I read an article on the two. The barred owl was on the east coast and moved west with the settlers. The spotted owl is a subspecies and is being displaced naturally even without logging. As someone in the article said, shooting barred owls is like shooting coyotes — you only temporarily lesson their numbers. Nature has its own leveling mechanism and killing one species to protect another will be an exercise in futility.
Leftists are truly insane
“Maybe Øbama heard the spotted owl call his name”
To the best of my knowledge, no owl has a cry sounding like “Here, queer, here queer’.
.
.
.
This is what happens when you have an administration full of eugenicists who believe in natural selection.
This is just another example of the Gubermint demonstrating that it alone is qualified to choose life’s winners.
This is just another example of the Gubermint demonstrating that it alone is qualified to choose life’s winners.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.