December 20, 2013

Feds kill 26 barred owls to help spotted owl

by Jeff Barnard

Feds kill 26 barred owls to help spotted owl
This June 7, 2011 file photo shows a barred owl at the Miami Science Museum in Miami. 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, Dec. 20, 2013, that specially trained biologists have shot 26 barred owls in a study area on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation located northeast of Arcata, Calif. They plan to remove as many as 118. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)

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 in a study area on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation, northeast of Arcata, Calif. They plan to remove as many as 118.

The service is spending $3.5 million over six years to remove 3,600 barred owls from sites in Oregon, Washington and California. Barred owls migrated from the East in the 1950s and have become the single biggest threat to spotted owl survival.

Scientists want to see if spotted owls will increase when competition from the more aggressive barred owl is eliminated.

© 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Citation: Feds kill 26 barred owls to help spotted owl (2013, December 20) retrieved 7 June 2023 from https://phys.org/news/2013-12-feds-barred-owls-owl.html
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