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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Faces Backlash Over Plan to Cull Barred Owls

Conservation groups call for a halt to the controversial plan aimed at saving the northern spotted owl by eliminating hundreds of thousands of barred owls.

  • The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposes to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls over three decades to save the northern spotted owl from extinction.
  • The plan has sparked a debate between conservation and animal welfare groups, with some advocating for it and others labeling it as 'colossally reckless'.
  • Critics argue that the plan, which involves killing barred owls and their hybrids, overlooks alternative conservation methods and could lead to perpetual culling.
  • The barred owl's expansion into the Pacific Northwest is attributed to natural range expansion, not human introduction, complicating the ethics of intervention.
  • Public opinion is divided, with some readers and conservationists suggesting that nature should be allowed to take its course instead of intervening.
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