Kill Owls to Save Owls? Is the Timber Industry the true Catalyst to $1B Plan

[Lindsey von Busch]

Hi Gary - The fight over the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s “Barred Owl Management Strategy” to shoot 450,000 North American barred owls seems to have been miscast as a scientific effort to save threatened northern spotted owls. However, according to new research by Animal Wellness Action, this $1 billon plan appears to be a timber-industry maneuver to justify increased logging and erode Endangered Species Act protections. 

 

The Senate will take a vote in the coming days, making this the most consequential wildlife vote of the year. Please let me know if you would like to speak with Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action.

Here’s what the media is missing — 

• The true catalyst is habitat destruction, not owl competition. The timber industry funded the very studies that led to this plan. Killing barred owls is being used as “mitigation” to unlock vast new logging operations in old-growth forests, home to both barred and spotted owls.
• It’s a fiscal and ecological absurdity. The plan will cost at least $1.35 billion — or about $3,000 per owl — while doing nothing to halt the spotted owl’s decline. 
• It’s a misuse of the Endangered Species Act. The ESA was created to stop human actions driving species to extinction — not to referee competition between native animals.
• It sets a dangerous precedent. The plan authorizes shooting in 14 National Parks and 17 National Forests, including Yosemite, Olympic, and Crater Lake. If this stands, the government will have the green light to kill native species in our most protected public lands.
• It’s bipartisan to oppose this. Over 445 stakeholders, including Democratic and Republican lawmakers, Audubon societies, scientists, and newspaper editorial boards have urged Congress to reject the BOMS.

Please let me know if you would like to speak with Wayne today.

Lindsey 

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