Saving One Type of Owl May Require Shooting Another

Despite pushback over its experimental killing of thousands of barred owls, the US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed shooting many, many more: about 400,000 over 30 years. It's all in an effort to save another owl species at risk of extinction. Populations of the northern spotted owl have declined rapidly over the last 20 years due to competition from barred owls, which are larger, more aggressive, more territorial, less picky about prey, and have been steadily expanding into the smaller owl's range, per the Seattle Times. A 2021 report found more than 75% of the spotted owl population that existed in the 1990s is gone. FWS is proposing to cull 400,000 barred owls over 30 years to make more room for their football-sized cousins, who've long been listed as a threatened species.

The agency says it's legally obligated to protect the spotted owl, which primarily eats mice, rats, and squirrels. But "rather than choosing to conserve one bird over the other, this is about conserving two species," FWS' Oregon state supervisor Kessina Lee tells Oregon Public Broadcasting. Barred owls, native to the eastern US, were able to migrate westward as settlers planted forests across the Great Plains and they've flourished since. Today, there are more than 100,000 within the spotted owl's territory, per the Times. In contrast, there are "very few spotted owls left now in Washington and in Northern Oregon, and we're rapidly reaching that condition in Southern Oregon and Northern California," Robin Bown, who leads the FWS' barred owl management strategy, tells OPG.

Barred owls reproduce every year, while spotted owls reproduce every two or three years. While spotted owls prefer old-growth forests, which are continually being eradicated due to wildfire and logging, barred owls can thrive in more varied habitats. Barred owls also oversee a smaller territory, meaning spotted owls can face competition from many barred owl pairs at a time. A FWS research study found spotted owl populations held steady in areas where barred owls were killed, while control populations declined by 12%. Still, some doubt the plan will be enough to save the owls. "In most of these areas, spotted owls are going to eventually, in fact fairly soon, go extinct," a leading spotted owl expert tells the Times. A public comment period on the proposal closes Jan. 16. (More owls stories.)