Planned owl cull triggers protests in US

Animal welfare groups have come out in opposition to the federal government plan for a cull of approximately 500,000 Barred Owls in the USA over the next 30 years.

A coalition of 75 animal rights and wildlife protection organisations sent a letter to the US Interior Secretary, Deb Haaland, calling for the "reckless plan" to be scrapped.

Barred Owl has been spreading north-west across the US since the 1950s. This range expansion is considered an existential threat to the northern subspecies of Spotted Owl, which has declined by 80% in some areas, largely due to logging. In Canada, conservationists believe Spotted Owl is already functionally extinct.

Barred Owl (pictured) has a negative effect on survival and fecundity in Spotted Owl (Chris Townend).

 

Letter sent to government

Animal Wellness Action and the Centre for a Humane Economy signed the letter. They expressed concern regarding the overall effectiveness of the proposal, while arguing that more could be achieved for Spotted Owl conservation by protecting its old-growth forest habitat. They say other species of owl risk being shot by accident and citing the potential for lead contamination from the shot used.

The letter said: "Implementing a decades-long plan to unleash untold numbers of 'hunters' in sensitive forest ecosystems is a case of single-species myopia regarding wildlife control."

 

Some support for owl cull

Federal wildlife officials argue that controlling the spread of Barred Owl, formerly restricted to eastern parts of the US, is entirely necessary to save Northern Spotted Owl from extinction and to prevent declines in the Californian form occidentalis. They say there is a strategy in place to avoid 'mistaken-identity kills' and remove owl carcasses to avoid lead poisoning of other animals.

Spotted and Barred Owls are closely related, with hybridisation documented, but the latter is a generalist species capable of outcompeting the smaller Spotted Owl.

In 1990, Northern Spotted Owl was listed as Threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

Some wildlife protection groups, such as the Environmental Protection Information Centre (EPIC), support the plan.

Tom Wheeler, executive director of EPIC, said: "We have a functional choice, which is the extinction of one species, or we could have both species continue to exist on the landscape."