Feds begin killing barred owls to help save spotted owl

Fox News ^ | Dec 21, 2013 | AP

[Innovative]

An experiment to see if killing invasive barred owls will help the threatened northern spotted owl reverse its decline toward extinction is underway in the forests of Northern California.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that specially trained biologists have shot 26 barred owls in a study area on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation northeast of Arcata, Calif.

The service is spending $3.5 million over six years to remove 3,600 barred owls from sites in Oregon, Washington and California.

It is not unusual to kill one species to help a threatened or endangered one. Cormorants and sea lions are regularly killed to help salmon.

[caver]

And what’s the penalty if John Q. Public shot a barred owl?

[goodnesswins]

Well first THEY KILLED LOGGING so now they need another victim....government doing what it does best...destroying

[moovova]

If that's your backyard, I'm jealous.

[dennisw]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday that specially trained biologists have shot 26 barred owls in a study area on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation northeast of Arcata, Calif.

Another Federal jobs programs!!!!!  These idiots do nothing useful. How come they aren't busy releasing more effin wolves???

[blackdog]

Every spring I would find dead lambs in my pastures during a three week period. The heads would be ripped open. The soft tissues of the mouth, tounge, and brains would be gone. I could not figure out what was doing it? It took two more years to discover Barred owls would kill the lambs at night to feed their newly hatched chicks. No body meat from them, just the head.

Nasty creatures.

[ZULU]

We have to kill them to save them.

[gorush]

Front yard, actually.

[Lakeshark]

"All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others"

Who knew Orwell was being literally prophetic......

[dennisw]

The Feds will waste another $3.5 million . While veterans get their pension cuts.

Just think of the FedGov as a jobs program for wildlife biologists who cannot find employ elsewhere. If logging was still big there the logging companies would have to hire some....just a thought

[Flycatcher]

I remember reading about this *idea* a few years ago. At first I thought it had to be a joke. Now I see they're actually doing it.

We truly have the biggest bunch of fools, dupes, patsies, and useful idiots in power now. I'm nearly speechless.

How did the children get in charge?

[Sacajaweau]

They do this in the fish world, too. They kill all the fish in a Lake and reintroduce the supposed old species. They’re so full of crap. And they get paid besides.

[Sacajaweau]

right....We were cutting down “their areas”.

[Sacajaweau]

American Indians can kill them, too....Lot of bull.

[Flycatcher]

Neat pic.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Government, picking winners and losers, once again.

[headstamp 2]

They can simply throw them into the blades of the wind turbines along with the eagles. Barry said it’s OK to do that.

[headstamp 2]

“An experiment to see if killing invasive barred owls will help the threatened northern spotted owl reverse its decline toward extinction ...”

Invasive from where, China?

[headstamp 2]

I’ll be right over. (grin)

[txrefugee]

Knowing this feckless Big Government nanny state, the EPA will successfully kill off all the owls, but the lumber industry will still be banned from the empty forest.

[billhilly]

I remember how the timber industry in Oregon and Washington was brought to its knees, two or three decades ago, “In order to save the Spotted Owl.”