by George Salamon
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The survival of one owl species hinges on the demise of another. That’s what the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service argues in its proposal to allow the agency to shoot hundreds of thousands of barred owls (above) over the next 30 years in West Coast forests. The service says the barred owl, which is not native to the region, is crowding out the spotted owl, a close genetic relative… Human influence—as European settlers spread west—likely caused the barred owl to colonize the Pacific Northwest. Now, the proposal raises questions about how far people should go to save a species and the costs of righting a historic ecological wrong. —NBC News, December 25, 2023 |
When the first owl flew
into our world it was at
noon, as the sun blinded
human vision to the world's
horrors, but the wise owl saw
the horrors of yesterday, and
those of tomorrow.
George Salamon thinks he understands why owls don't hang out much in the metropolitan St. Louis (MO) area.