Geoffrey Norman

The crusade to save the spotted owl continues.  It began with limiting timber sales on federally managed lands in order to preserve the owl's preferred habitat.  As a result, Teresa Platt writes:

Oregon harvests fell from 4.9 billion board feet (1988) to less than 5%, 240 million board feet (2009).

Yet the spotted owl still struggled to survive and an interloper, the more aggressive barred owl (which is striped) began moving in and taking over the territory. So the Interior Department is working to "remove" some 9,000 barred owls from the spotted owls protected habitat.  

The shooting of owls – stripped or spotted – by the government seems a bit extreme and who knows, maybe it accounts for the scarcity of ammunition these days.  Perhaps the bullets are being used by federal sharpshooters, busily knocking off undesirable owls.

Maybe we should just leave it alone and let the owls sort it out among themselves.