A federal campaign to kill nearly a half-million barred owls in the Pacific Northwest to save threatened spotted owls continues, even though the recent lifting of protections for spotted owl habitat defeats the entire purpose, an animal welfare advocate says.
It’s costing the government roughly $3,000 per bird to have barred owls shot, Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action and the Centre for a Humane Economy, told Cowboy State Daily.
And with a recent move to weaken the habitat protection element of the Endangered Species Act, it could be all for nothing if spotted owls’ old-growth forest habitat gets logged, he added.
Meanwhile, Wyoming’s barred owl population appears to be growing and might include four pairs in the Grand Teton area, Bryan Bedrosian, conservation director at the Teton Raptor Centre, told Cowboy State Daily.
There’s virtually no chance spotted owls will ever come to Wyoming, he added.
That means that Wyoming’s barred owls are safe from getting shotgunned to protect spotted owls.
