Owl vs Owl (and Us): Fair or Foul?

Every once in a while in our on-going, seemingly inexorable march to eliminate large swatches of nature’s bounty: the inland glaciers of Montana, Chile, China, Europe, the rainforest, the ice of the Arctic and Antarctic and a multitude of species, a story comes to the fore to stop us for a short moment.

For me it was the story of the owls that a friend posted on Facebook. A NPR report about “killing one owl species to save another.”

I’ve got a thing about owls. From the time as a boy I rescued an injured baby owl from Van Cortland Park in the Bronx and my Mom took care until it healed enough to fly.


Northern Spotted Owl

Anyway it seems the Northern Spotted Owl is in big trouble in Washington, Oregon, even California. Thanks to logging, the suburbanization of their habitat, and now the Barred Owls who like many Americans have moved west from the industrial east where there are fewer and fewer jobs, apparently even for owls.

It’s an owl war out west. And we’ve decided to get involved. The Barred Owls are bigger and stronger, even pushy. Another case of bullying.


Barred Owls

Just look at the pictures. It’s three against one. But like all cases of the strong versus the weak, it’s complicated. Is it really our fight? How about mediation? Conflict resolution?

The United States Wildlife Service has decided to go NATO on this one. Forceful Intervention. Yeah, Spotted Owl. Boo, Barred Owl. We’re talking Owl Elimination. One Owl Species. Winner Take All.

I don’t have a horse in this owl race. I don’t really know enough about the different owls. Call me naïve but I kind of like them all.

The fact is some of the rhetoric chills my bones. This is how NPR describes it:

The Fish and Wildlife Service hopes to deal with this by “permanent removal,” says Robin Bown, a biologist with the agency. “We’re going to look at all potential opportunities, but the most humane way to do it is to shoot them.”

Bown says the agency plans to eliminate barred owls from a few study areas to see if the spotted owls there do better. And yes, she says, shooting the barred owls will raise a few eyebrows.
“It’s a difficult concept, to say I’m going to kill one species to try to save another species,” she says. “But it’s also something that, in some cases, we need to do.” (emphasis mine)

Now some of you might be thinking owl smowl. They’re weird out there in the West. But you should know we’ve got owls here. They’ve got Skype and Twitter. Do you really think what starts in California, stops in California? How’d that work for tie-dyed shirts and the Grateful Dead?

Anyway take some time and check out the Massachusetts Audubon site and learn about our Berkshire Owls.

Better yet, take a listen. Here the spotted owl!

And here’s a barred owl:

The more I think about it the less comfortable I am with Owl Elimination. Violence isn’t always the answer.

Maybe we can create a Spotted Owl Sanctuary in a small town in Montana. And not tell the Barred Owls where it is. I mean Mums The Word. When it comes down to saving a species, can you keep a secret?

Mickey Friedman, June 15, 2011




© Mickey Friedman 2011

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