Posted by Charlotte Wasylik, aka Prairie Birder, Last week the
British Columbia government approved the shooting and relocation
of Barred Owls in an effort to save their endangered cousin, the
Spotted Owl, which has been facing extinction since the 1980s,
and now has threatened status. The loss of old growth forests
and competition with the larger Barred Owl are factors that
threaten the Spotted Owl’s existence. Barred Owls are larger,
more adaptable, and more aggressive than Spotted Owls. In
Canada, the Spotted Owl can be found only in southwestern BC;
further south, the Spotted Owl is found along the Pacific coast
from Mexico to Washington state. About a century ago, there were
an estimated 500 breeding pairs in BC. Now, only 10 Spotted Owls
remain in the wild in all of Canada. This is what happens when
you drive a species right to the edge of extinction and you
don’t want to do the right thing, which is put aside the habitat
it needs to recover… . Without [the government's new plan], it
is likely that the