Posted on 07/06/2024 5:38:50 AM PDT by Libloather
To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, US wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan: hire trained sharp-shooters to assassinate its rivals.
The US Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is meant to prop up declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California.
Trained shooters will be deployed to the dense forests of the West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their endangered cousins.
Documents released by the agency show up to about 450,000 barred owls would be shot over three decades — a solution designed to level the playing field after this invasive species of owl from the eastern US encroached into western territory.
Both of the Pacific coast's smaller native owls, the northern spotted owls and California spotted owls, have proven unable to compete with the invading barred owls, which breed in larger numbers and need less room to survive.
Past efforts to save spotted owls focused on protecting the forests where they live, sparking bitter fights over logging but also helping slow the birds' decline.
The proliferation of barred owls in recent years is undermining that earlier work, officials said.
'Without actively managing barred owls, northern spotted owls will likely go extinct in all or the majority of their range, despite decades of collaborative conservation efforts,' said Fish and Wildlife Service Oregon state supervisor Kessina Lee.
But the notion of killing one bird species to save another has divided wildlife advocates and conservationists.
It's reminiscent of past government efforts to save West Coast salmon by killing sea lions and cormorants that prey on the fish, and to preserve warblers by killing cowbirds that lay eggs in warbler nests.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
And they're planning to kill 450,000 barred owls over thirty years, according to the article. That works out to about 41 owls a day over that 200,000 square miles, or about one owl per 5,000 square miles per day.
Yeah, that'll make a huge difference. No way will the barred owls be able to overcome a reproductive disadvantage like that. /s
We have a barred owl that roosts in the woods behind our place. She’s a huge, magnificent animal that we see in the evenings. My wife saw her snatch a wild rabbit off our front yard the other day. It would be a huge shame if anything happened to it.
“With calls most likely-”
or texts
Carmel, Ca. had (has) a pig problem near their water treatment
plant. The proposed solution was to cull about half the population once.
In ideal conditions, a population of wild pigs can double in just 4 months, but more typically, the annual growth rate in populations of feral hogs is about 20%. From...
https://icwdm.org/species/other-mammals/wild-pigs/wild-pig-biology/
Idiots trying to save the ecosystem by destroying it. They think they can engineer something they don’t even begin to understand.
Like when the Chinese killed millions of sparrows because they thought the sparrows were eating their grain. They set off a famine because it turned out the sparrows were eating the insects that ate the grain.
This is not good. Liberals might get the idea about protecting special minority species by killing their rivals.
Messing with naturally evolving things always works out well. Right? Hello? Anyone? Bueller?
These people really are idiots.
Night vision optics. Very easy to do.
lol, do owls text?
Government thinks it can manage the climate, control the natural extinction of specific species, and make an economy flourish by taxing the crap out of us.
And WE’RE nuts?
You have no idea of the size or ruggedness of these forests. The smart guys will hunt the clearcuts but once you get inside the forest it is impossible to travel or see owls.
The two major forests in Oregon are 100 x 300 miles and 50x300 miles. This is a pipe dream.
I meant before the fact.
Dr. Seuss’ Sneetches comes to mind.
Yes, I know barred owls and spotted owls are different species.
Any concerns for a drastic increase in the local rodent populations?
......................................
That’s probably the real reason they’re doing this. Mice can destroy a lot of food.
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