Feds Can Kill One Bird to Help Another, Appeals Court Rules
PORTLAND, Ore. (CN) – The government can move forward with its plan to slaughter barred owls as part of a study to see if their absence will help imperiled spotted owls, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday.
The appeals court shrugged off claims from environmentalists that the Migratory Bird Treaty Act only allows the killing of protected birds to benefit the species killed.
Friends of Animals sued the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2014, advancing an argument that could have upended a contentious cornerstone of the government’s wildlife management strategy – killing droves of one wild animal to save another.
Barred owls, which are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, never lived in the Pacific Northwest until a changing climate and habitat destruction pushed them west. Owl species that are as closely related as the barred and spotted owls don’t usually share the same habitat. If they do, they have different hunting methods or diets. In the wake of barred owls’ rapid migration, the two species haven’t evolved to adopt the separate niches that would let them peacefully co-exist in the same forests.
Instead, they are battling for supremacy. And barred owls, which are more aggressive, reproduce more frequently and need less territory to thrive, seem to be winning.
https://www.courthousenews.com/feds-can-kill-one-bird-to-help-another-appeals-court-rules/
