Wildlife Officials Plan to Cull Nearly Half a Million Barred Owls to Protect Spotted Owls

The annual cull amount to less than 0.5 percent of the current North American barred owl population, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

A Barred Owl stands on a branch as Robert DeCandido also known as "Birding Bob" leads a group of bird watchers during a tour in Central Park, New York on Nov. 29, 2020. Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed culling nearly half a million invasive barred owls in Washington state, Oregon, and California over the next three decades to protect native spotted owls from possible extinction.

“Barred owl management is not about one owl versus another,” Fish and Wildlife Service Oregon’s state supervisor Kessina Lee said in a statement. “Without actively managing barred owls, northern spotted owls will likely go extinct in all or the majority of their range, despite decades of collaborative conservation efforts.”