To help safeguard other native species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service intends to shoot over 500,000 barred owls to death in a cull.
Originating on the U.S. East Coast, barred owls are an invasive species in the Pacific Northwest that seriously threaten native, protected species like northern spotted owls.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) intends to shoot half a million of these invasive owls over the course of the next 30 years as part of a draft management plan.
Since the 1950s, barred owls have been a part of the Pacific Northwest, and today, in Washington, Oregon, and California, their numbers have surpassed those of northern spotted owls.
Because they are more aggressive and devour a wider variety of foods, including fish, frogs, insects, and other birds, they represent a serious danger to northern spotted owls.
In addition, they are larger and more territorial than the native owls, which causes them to displace the northern spotted owls and interfere with their nesting, food competition, and even attacks when they approach too closely.
Northern spotted owl populations are fast diminishing in places where barred owls are more prevalent.
Given that their numbers have decreased by between 35 and 80 percent during the last 20 years, they are currently classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.