Posted on 02/09/2011 11:15:51 PM PST by george76
Nothing's worked. Not the clamp on federal timber sales that hammered Oregon's mill towns. Not the lawsuits or the listing as an endangered species. The belated work to retain and restore its favored old-growth habitat will take decades to unfold. Twenty plus years of trying to save the northern spotted owl and it's still slipping away.
Come summer, federal wildlife officials expect to finish a draft environmental impact statement that most likely recommends taking to the woods with shotguns. Over the next year, in three or more study areas from Washington to northern California, they might kill 1,200 to 1,500 barred owls -- the larger, more aggressive competitor that has routed spotted owls from much of their territory and become, along with habitat loss, the biggest threat to their survival.
It's a wrenching decision that splits wildlife biologists and environmentalists. Killing one native animal to benefit another -- especially a "big, beautiful raptor, a fantastic bird," as one biologist puts it -- is such a leap that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hired an environmental ethicist to guide its discussions.
More barred owls, perhaps hundreds, would have to be killed every year to keep the study areas free of interlopers for three to 10 years. One biologist estimated the cost at up to $1 million annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at oregonlive.com ...
Are barred owls tasty?
The 2010 spotted owl recovery plan, to be released in mid-February, concludes “barred owl removal should be initiated as soon as possible.”
Tastes like chicken ?
No. I believe the owls should determine the outcome on their own. There is plenty of evidence that the two interbreed, so it isn’t like either will cease to exist geneticall but contribute dna to a yet to be determined new species of owl.
The fittest survive. I say let them be.
In 1988, Oregon loggers cut 4.9 billion board feet of timber on federal land. The 2009 federal harvest was 240 million board feet.
but the Spotted owl itself hasn’t shown signs of recovering.
Barred Owl
Give em all guns and let em sort out their own problems.
America can’t be the world’s policeman. /s
Put both kinds of owls in a huge cage and may the best owl win. Bring the hot sauce! CAGE MATCH!
One biologist estimated the cost at up to $1 million annually.
Jobs created
As the old joke (here in spotted owl country) goes, "They taste a little like bald eagle, Mr. game warden. Why do you ask?"
Perhaps it’s just the Spotted Owl’s time to become extinct.
Some owls are more equal than others.
No one should kill a bird of prey for any reason.
Never, ever.
My great uncle told me once that the one regret in his life was the great horn owls and hawks he killed when trapping.
Birds of prey are a sign of a healthy environment.
The over educated paper readers are just looking for more funding.
If they get it and start killing the owls it doesn’t mean the other owl will increase in population.
What it does mean is that the wild rodent population will suddenly explode increasing the chances of them coming into contact with humans and increasing the chances of disease.
Gov picking winners again.... How long till they make them both extinct?
Like Global Warming, let’s stop Evolution in it’s tracks! Pick winners and losers.
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