The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is keeping its sights on the barred owl, hoping that an effort to cull the species can save its close genetic relative.
On a final plan released Wednesday, the agency proposes killing up to 450,000 barred owls over 30 years, despite opposition from some animal welfare activists and Washington state’s top public lands official.
The plan, released in a final environmental impact statement, aims to prevent the extinction of the spotted owl, an endangered species that is being driven from its native territory by the slightly larger and faster-breeding barred owl.
“We are at a crossroads and now we have developed the science and analyzed everything,” said Bridget Moran, USFWS deputy state supervisor in Oregon. “We have to take care of the barred owl. There is time to protect spotted owls, but that window is closing.”
The barred owl, common in the eastern U.S., is not native to the West Coast and likely only arrived because European settlers spread west. The species was first discovered in the spotted owl’s range in Washington state in the 1970s. The recent spread of barred owls has had a dramatic impact on the spotted owl population in forests along the West Coast. The USFWS estimates it has declined by about 75% over the past two decades.
The wildlife agency’s final proposal calls for teams of professionals to broadcast a “territorial call” to attract barred owls and then shoot them with shotguns. Public hunting of the birds would not be allowed, the proposal says.
The agency believes spotted owls will slowly recover if they face less competition from barred owls. In an experimental study funded by the USFWS and published in 2021, spotted owls had a 10% greater chance of survival in areas where barred owls were removed.
Robin Brown, a Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who leads the agency’s barred owl strategy, said the management plan will not completely eliminate barred owls from the West Coast.
“Both species will remain,” Brown said, adding that the program would eliminate only about 0.5% of the country’s barred owls.
The proposal to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls has received a mix of criticism and support.
“Killing hundreds of thousands of barred owls is a cruel and senseless management proposition,” said Jennifer Best, director of wildlife law at Friends of Animals, a Connecticut-based animal advocacy nonprofit that is opposed the USFWS on this issue. “We will be reviewing the final EIS and final decision once it is released to determine whether we will take legal action.”
Washington Public Lands Commissioner Hilary Franz questioned how much the plan will cost and whether it will have unintended consequences, calling it an “extreme solution” in a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.
“There is no precedent for a successful wildlife control program on this scale. Although the USFWS has not assigned a cost to the plan, conservative estimates from outside sources place the cost estimate at $235 million over a 30-year horizon” , wrote Franz, adding that she was worried that the plan was “impractical.”
(The cost estimate Franz referred to is from a retired USFWS biologist, who is skeptical of the plan.)
Moran said the program’s costs depend largely on which agencies and land managers participate, and that it is not yet possible to estimate them.
The Oregon Department of Forestry supported the final proposal, saying in a public comment that the plan recognized the “severity of the proposed action and recognizes the complex threat” from barred owls.
The USFWS can make a formal record of the decision within a month. The barred owl is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the USFWS will need to apply for a permit to begin killing barred owls.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
