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To save spotted owls, US officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species

yaktrinews.com 2 days ago

To save the imperiled spotted owl from potential extinction, U.S. wildlife officials are embracing a contentious plan to deploy trained shooters into dense West Coast forests to kill almost a half-million barred owls that are crowding out their cousins.

Killing Owls
FILE - Wildlife technician Jordan Hazan records data in a lab from a male barred owl he shot earlier in the night, Oct. 24, 2018, in Corvallis, Ore. U.S. wildlife officials want to kill hundreds of thousands of barred owls in coming decades as part of a controversial plan to help spotted owl populations. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service strategy released Wednesday is meant to prop up declining spotted owl populations in Oregon, Washington state and California. The Associated Press obtained details in advance.

Killing Owls
A female barred owl sits on a branch in the wooded hills, Dec. 13, 2017, outside Philomath, Ore. 

Landmark law saved whales through marine industries change

Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A female North Atlantic right whale rolls on her back, revealing her pectoral flippers, on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces March 27 on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts. The protected species has been at the center of a longtime dispute between federal regulators and commercial fishing and shipping industries.
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
FILE - A washed-up lobster trap and tangled line sit on a beach in Biddeford, Maine, in this Nov. 13, 2009, file photo. The state's lobster industry has been in a legal battle for years over whether the ropes used to attach lobster traps to buoys pose a threat to the whales. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
North Atlantic right whales interact at the surface on Cape Cod Bay near a research vessel from the International Fund for Animal Welfare on March 27 off the coast of Massachusetts. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound changes to marine industries.
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
FILE- A lobster fisherman hauls a trap in this Sept. 8, 2022, file photo, off of Kennebunkport, Maine. The state's lobster industry says many of the new gear regulations designed to protect right whale are needlessly onerous. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, files)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
Lobsterman Dave Cousens applies a fresh coat of paint to one of his 800 lobster buoys, Wednesday, March 29, 2023, in South Thomaston, Maine. The longtime lobsterman is in favor of closing the fishing season while right whales migrate through the Gulf of Maine but says he fears for the future of the industry because many of the new gear regulations are nonsensical. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
An endangered North Atlantic right whale is shown entangled in fishing rope with a newborn calf on Dec. 2, 2021, near Cumberland Island, Ga. This spring, on Cape Cod Bay off of Massachusetts, a team from the Center for Coastal Studies managed to remove 200 feet of rope from a different whale, but it remains entangled.
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A fishing boat, foreground, and commercial ship travel across Cape Cod Bay, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Massachusetts. Vessels are restricted in how fast they can travel and how commercial fishermen can fish in an effort to protect right whales from boat strikes and rope entanglements. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A North Atlantic right whale dives on Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts, Monday, March 27, 2023. Scientists on a research vessel from the International Fund for Animal Welfare watch in the background. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A North Atlantic right whale surfaces, revealing unique markings on its underside March 27 in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts.
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A North Atlantic right whale dives March 27 in Cape Cod Bay in Massachusetts.
Endangered Species Act Whales Industry
A pair of North Atlantic right whales interact at the surface of Cape Cod Bay, Monday, March 27, 2023, in Massachusetts. The drive to protect vanishing whales has brought profound impacts to marine industries, and those changes are accelerating as the Endangered Species Act approaches its 50th anniversary. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, NOAA permit # 21371)
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