Owl Massacre is Not the Answer: Speak Out

The United States Government has proposed a plan to slaughter over 400,000 barred owls in the Pacific Northwest over the next 30 years in a cruel and ill-conceived strategy to protect endangered northern spotted owls.

As a result of human development these two species of owls have found themselves competing for territory, food and nesting in Washington, Oregon, and Northern California and the smaller, less adaptable spotted owl has had trouble keeping up with its larger cousin.

Spotted owls have suffered from habitat loss and fragmentation due to logging of the old-growth forests they call home. Barred owls on the other hand have expanded their range to the Pacific Northwest thanks to the spread of new growth forests across the Great Plains that once restricted their movement. Wildfires and climate change have also pushed barred owls into the habitat range of spotted owls.

Now the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has devised a plan to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls in the name of protecting the northern spotted owl while doing nothing to combat climate change or guarantee the habitat protections that spotted owls need to thrive.

The proposed plan will grant land managers and landowners permits to shoot barred owls which is both cruel and dangerous to the owls they claim to be protecting as northern spotted owl are very difficult to distinguish from their larger relative and could accidentally fall victim to these lethal removal methods. The proposed plan also offers no real long term solution to the issue and will not keep pace with barred owl breeding so this killing will need to continue indefinitely.

Barred owls should not be used as scapegoats for the harmful effects of logging and forest decimation. The government must increase regulations of these destructive activities rather than massacring innocent birds who are simply trying to survive in an altered landscape.

Employing a combination of non-lethal strategies alongside habitat restoration, wildfire management, and efforts to mitigate climate change, is the most compassionate way to safeguard northern spotted owls while also sparing barred owls from slaughter.

Please join Species Unite in insisting that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rethink their plans to massacre hundreds of thousands of barred owls.

SPEAK OUT AGAINST THE CRUELTY: