Senate Rejects Bid to Block 450K Owl Cull

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday rejected a 25–72 bid to block a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plan to cull up to 450,000 barred owls over roughly three decades to try to save the threatened northern spotted owl. The management strategy, covering California, Oregon and Washington, would use trained specialists to locate barred owls with broadcast territorial calls and remove them — shooting where safe and capture and euthanasia where firearms are inadvisable. Wildlife officials say barred owls, native to eastern North America, are larger and more aggressive and have displaced spotted owls, which number perhaps only a few thousand on federal lands. The proposal has split unlikely allies: animal-welfare advocates and some Republicans oppose it as inhumane and risky, while environmentalists and timber interests support it and warn that canceling the rule could trigger lengthy Endangered Species Act reconsultation and jeopardize timber sales. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and the Biden administration backed the strategy, even as critics including Sen. John Kennedy called it "playing God" and experts warned of ethical dilemmas and risks of mistaken-identity kills.