US Agency May Start Luring Half A Million Owls to Their Deaths Next Spring

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) plans to begin culling up to about 450,000 barred owls from California forests next spring should it approve a new proposal later this year. A federal effort to preserve the northern spotted owls and California spotted owls, two native owl species declining in California, has been ongoing for years. The owls faced threats from logging, but despite efforts to preserve their habitats, both species have declined over the past few decades as the barred owl, a non-native bird of prey larger than the other birds, arrived on the West Coast and began outhunting the smaller species and edging them out of their natural environments. Officials began killing barred owls identified in spotted owl habitats 15 years ago to see if culling the larger species prompted an upward trend for the spotted owls. Roughly 4,500 barred owls have been killed since 2009, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.

https://www.macon.com/news/nation-world/national/article289792164.html#storylink=cpy