THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS SPECIES:

To protect spotted owl, larger rival is targeted: But the plan, which would allow killing a more aggressive species, downplays the logging industry's role as another culprit, critics say (Sam Howe Verhovek, June 4, 2007, LA Times)

To save the northern spotted owl, federal authorities have listed the bird under the Endangered Species Act, set aside 7 million acres of forest for owl habitat, and imposed stiff fines on those who harm the chocolate-colored football-sized raptors.

But the spotted owl population is still in deep peril nearly 15 years after President Clinton brokered a compact to protect its old-growth habitat. So the government has hit on another approach to saving an icon of the Pacific Northwest: shooting its cousins.

Under a proposal controversial in scientific and environmental circles, federal wildlife agents in Oregon, Washington and Northern California would be allowed to use shotguns to kill hundreds of barred owls.

The larger, more aggressive barred owl, which is not native to the Northwest, has stymied recovery efforts of the meeker spotted owl in the last two decades.

The barred owls muscle the spotted owls from their habitat and eat them — or, very occasionally, according to wildlife biologists, mate with them.

In other words, spotted owls are barred owls.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 4, 2007 6:36 AM