Thousands Of Wild Owls Targeted For Slaughter In CA, West Coast

CALIFORNIA — U.S. wildlife officials are scaling up efforts to kill thousands of barred owls in California and much of the West Coast, but it's a controversial program.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan includes using trained shooters to target the raptors in the Golden State, Oregon and Washington, with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service goal of killing up to 452,000 barred owls over 30 years.

The mass kill-off is a bid to save native owls — namely northern spotted owls and California spotted owls — whose numbers are declining due to the barred owl's takeover of their habitat, according to wildlife officials.

This week, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced a $4.5 million grant for the Hoopa Valley Tribe in Northern California to help prevent "the extinction of northern spotted owls through barred owl management."

The tribe's program includes removing "invasive barred owls across National Forests and state parks in northwestern California to benefit northern spotted owls. The project will eradicate approximately 1,500 barred owls over four years" by creating large areas with fewer of the "invasive" birds.

According to officials, the clearing out is designed to provide time and habitat for spotted owl populations to recover.

Killing one bird species to save others, however, has led to passionate debate. Earlier this fall, two environmental groups, Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, filed a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's plan to kill off barred owls. The eradication would be among the largest such effort to date involving birds of prey, researchers and wildlife advocates said.

"This inhumane, unworkable barred owl kill-plan is the largest-ever scheme to slaughter raptors in any nation by a country mile," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the two Washington, D.C.-based environmental groups. "It has a zero percent chance of success, but it will produce an unheard-of body count of a long-protected owl species native only to North America."

Barred owls were historically residents of the eastern U.S., southern Canada, and parts of south-central Mexico. The birds expanded into western North America and are now found in the habitat of the native northern spotted owl and California spotted owl.

Pacelle argues that barred owls are protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the plan by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is a violation. The federal agency contends it has leeway to issue special permits for habitat management.

But Pacelle said, "We cannot start wiping out native species for range expansion that is likely a derivative of human actions."

Barred owls were first detected in California in 1976, but large numbers were not found until the 1990s and 2000s.

"Barred owls are larger, more aggressive, and have a broader suite of prey and habitat preferences than spotted owls," according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. "Given the level of decline of Northern Spotted Owl associated with the presence of Barred Owl and the impending threat Barred Owl expansion poses to California Spotted Owls, management actions (e.g. removal of Barred Owl, targeted forest management) should be considered in order to stem the ongoing declines."

In an October letter to U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the welfare organizations headed by Pacelle raised several objections to the federal kill-off plan, including the risk that hunters could kill the wrong owls and spent lead casings would litter forest lands.

The plan's scale makes it unworkable, according to the organizations, which said the barred owl has been displaced by human activity, and its range expansion should be considered normal.

"Range expansion is a naturally occurring ecological phenomena, and it is a core characteristic of many species of birds and mammals," according to the organizations. "Indeed, it is the process by which so many species have come to occupy their current ranges. Just like there is no end to history, there is no end to species movements."